The European Commission has set out individual recommendations for the economies of each of the EU’s 27 member states and the eurozone as a whole, at the same time complaining that members’ economic reform plans often lack ambition and are not specific enough.
Eurozone members were told to align their pension systems with their demographics, limit wage rises in line with productivity, and cut payroll tax.
Spain has been asked to ensure fiscal discipline by its regional governments, to push through pension reforms including a higher retirement age, to clean up governance at its heavily indebted savings banks and to reduce social security contributions of workers to reduce labour costs and to compensate for the reduction by increasing IVA and energy taxes.
This is the first such review by the European Commission.