The 2022 BusinessEurope Reform Barometer was published on 23 March 2022. The report looks at the structural, long-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the EU economy, compared to other major developed economies through a range of economic indicators in the area of business environment, taxation, access to finance, labour market and innovation. The Reform Barometer, whilst prepared primarily before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, also looks in more detail at how the war will impact the EU economy.
In the second chapter, BusinessEurope presents the views of its network of business federations across Europe, assessing both the policy response to the pandemic and the implementation by Member States of national recovery plans under the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. The survey also looks at country implementation of structural reforms (‘country-specific-recommendations’) under the European Semester, the implementation of which is conditional upon receiving funding from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
Following the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on growth, investment and output in the EU, the Russian invasion of Ukraine clearly presents a further challenge for the EU economy. With increased pressure on energy prices, inflation and public finance, it is essential that the EU’s co-ordinated fiscal stimulus through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is fully exploited as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the EU economy and boost long-term growth in the EU.
While there are already some tentative positive prospects for the implementation of the recovery plans, there remains huge scope for Member States to improve the implementation of the country-specific recommendations (CSRs) under the European Semester. This year BusinessEurope members consider that 34% of CSRs have been satisfactorily implemented (compared to just 13% two years ago), suggesting that RRF conditionality did help.
Detailed assessments by national member federations (which were made prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine) can be downloaded from the table below.
