European Semester 2013: Council Recommendations

Burdensome taxation, low retirement age and high corruption belong among key notions highlighted by the Council in its annual country-specific recommendations to the Czech Republic.

Recommendations on economic and policy changes should help the Czech Republic to get back on track with economic growth and sustainable public finance. “Specific recommendations should be seen as a whole with relation to the last year recommendations,” stressed Elena Reitano from DG ECFIN. She commended the Czech Republic for decreasing public deficit and fiscal consolidation efforts. On the other hand, she stressed the need for maintaining fiscal stability while simultaneously enhancing domestic demand.

Furthermore, she suggested focusing on research, education, labour market potential, services deregulation and energy efficiency. According to Jan Král of the Czech Government’s Office, the majority of recommendations are in line with ongoing national reforms. Nevertheless, some recommendations do not completely reflect Czech political and social reality (e.g. pre-retirement age) or some are overly prescriptive (such as pre-school care). Therefore he suggests enhancing cooperation on future CSRs preparation between the Member States and the Commission. According to Radek Špicar, Vice-president of the Confederation, business and university cooperation is one of the key elements of the future competitiveness of the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic has a difficult task ahead: to stimulate growth and stabilize public finance, agreed speakers of the debate organized by CEBRE on 26th June in European House in Prague.