Page - 68 - in Austrian Law Journal, Volume 1/2015

ALJ 1/2015 Alexander Somek 68 an Semester”, which provides the Commission with access to the whole field of domestic policy planning.4 What is more, not only do Member States of Euro Zone have to submit to the Commis- sion and to the Eurogroup a draft budgetary plan for the forthcoming year5 and are subject, un- der certain conditions, to visitations by “review missions”,6 sanctions can now be imposed on them on the ground of their failure to comply with recommendations7 or corrective actions plans.8 These are the innovations that we associate with the Reform of the Stability and Growth Pact (“Six Pack”,9 “Two Pack”10) and the Fiscal Compact.11 4 See Article 2a of Regulation (EC) 1466/97 on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies. It was introduced by Regulation 1175/2011 of the European Par- liament and of the Council of 16 November 2011. The European Semester involves the formulation, and surveillance of the implementation, of broad economic policy guidelines; the tasks of formulation and surveillance are extended also to employment guidelines (Art 148[2] TFEU), the stability or convergence programs, national reform programs supporting the Union’s strategy for growth and jobs and the prevention of correction of macroeconomic imbalanc- es. Even the “enhanced monitoring of budgetary policies” is supposed to “complement” the European Semester. See Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 473/2013 of the European Parliament of the Council of 21 May 2013 on common provi- sions for monitoring and assessing draft budgetary plans and ensuring the correction of excessive deficit of the Member States of the euro area. Arguably, the European semester is the gate through which the Commission en- ters domestic policy planning and through which it never leaves. For a sketch of how the European semester works, see http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/economic_governance/the_european_semester/index_en.htm. 5 See Article 6 of Regulation (EU) No 473/2013. 6 See Article 3(5) Regulation 472/2013. 7 See Council Regulation 1177/2011 of November 2011 amending Council Regulation 1467/97 of 7 July 1997 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure. The new Article 7 has speeded up the imposition of sanctions. 8 See Articles 3 to 5 of Regulation (EU) No 1174/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2011 on enforcement measures to correct excessive macroeconomic imbalances in the euro area. 9 The (reformed) Stability and Growth Pact consists of regulations concerning the prevention and correction of excessive deficits and macroeconomic imbalances. See Regulation (EU) No 1175/2011 of the European Parlia- ment and of the Council of 16 November 2011 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 on the strengthen- ing of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies; Regu- lation (EU) No 1173/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2011 on the effective enforcement of budgetary surveillance in the euro area; Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011 of the European Parlia- ment and of the Council of 16 November 2011 on the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances: Council Regulation (EU) No 1177/2011 of 8 November 2011 amending Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure; Regulation (EU) No 1174/2011 of the Eu- ropean Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2011 on enforcement measures to correct excessive mac- roeconomic imbalances in the euro area; Council Directive 2011/85/EU of 8 November 2011 on requirements for budgetary frameworks of the Member States; Regulation (EU) No 473/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on common provisions for monitoring and assessing draft budgetary plans and en- suring the correction of excessive deficit of the Member States in the euro area; Regulation (EU) No 472/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the strengthening of economic and budgetary surveillance of Member States in the euro area experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability. For the legal problems raised, see Martin Höpner & Florian Rödl, Illegitim und rechtswidrig: Das neue makroökonomische Regime im Euroraum, 92 WIRTSCHAFTSDIENST 219, 219-222 (2012); Jürgen Bast & Florian Rödl, Jenseits der Koordinierung? Zu den Grenzen der EU-Verträge für eine Europäische Wirtschaftsregierung, 39 EUROPÄISCHE GRUNDRECHTEZEITSCHRIFT, 2012, at 269; Mark Dawson & Floris de Witte, Constitutional Balance in the EU after the Euro-Crisis, 76 MODERN LAW REVIEW, 2013, at 817. 10 Two regulations, based upon Article 136 and Article 121(6) TFEU, were adopted in order to strengthen the coordina- tion and surveillance of budgetary policies among Member States in the Eurozone. Regulation (EU) No 473/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on common provisions for monitoring and assessing draft budgetary plans and ensuring the correction of excessive deficit of the Member States in the euro area and Regulation (EU) No 472/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on the strengthening of economic and budgetary surveillance of Member States in the euro area experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability. The first regulation applies to all euro area Member States, with special rules applying to those in the corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact, namely the Excessive Deficit Procedure. The second Regulation sets out “clear and simplified rules” for enhanced surveillance for Member States facing severe difficulties with regard to their financial stability, those receiving financial assistance, and those exiting a financial assistance program. We shall return to some of the provisions of these regulations below. 11 The official name of the Fiscal Compact is “Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union“.