Broad Economic Policy Guidelines

The 1993 Treaty of Maastricht introduced a system for coordinating the economic policies of EU Member States. These provisions are contained in Article 121 of The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (450 KB PDF), which stipulates that ‘Member States shall regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern and shall co-ordinate them within the Council…’. The Broad Economic Policy Guidelines (BEPGs) are adopted by the Council as non legally-binding recommendations which guide annual economic policy in both the Member States and the EU as a whole, taking into account the particular circumstances of each Member State.

If the economic policies of a Member State do not comply with the BEPGs or there is a risk they could compromise the functioning of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the Commission may warn the Member State, and can also make recommendations to the Member State, which may be made public.

The European Parliament is informed of the results of the multilateral surveillance. It may also be called upon to participate in establishing the arrangements for this surveillance.

See also: Annual Growth Survey; Alert Mechanism Report; Economic and Monetary Union; Open method of coordination; Soft law; Economic And Monetary Union; Employment guidelines; European Employment Strategy; European economic governance; European Globalisation adjustment Fund; Integrated guidelines; Lisbon Strategy; Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure; National Action Plans; National Reform Programmes; Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance.