The Structure of Euro Plus Pact. A Path for Measuring It's Adoption

The Euro Plus Pact was established in March 2011 according to the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). More specifically, it was published as part of the 24-25 March Summit conclusions, while the European Council of 9/12/2011 proceeded to the specification of the program pillars for each country. Its main objective was to strengthen the coordination of the European competitiveness and convergence economic policies. The Euro Plus Pact is based on four key pillars of equal importance, which are specified in different indexes and means of achievement. The first strategic pillar is fostering competitiveness, the second one is fostering employment, the third one is contributing further to the sustainability of public finances and the fourth one is reinforcing financial stability. The scientific findings demonstrate that the EU has shown little interest in implementing the Euro Plus Pact, while the literature about it is relatively poor with the only references being in relation to the first strategic pillar, which is promoting competitiveness by reducing unit labor costs. Regarding this strategic pillar, the EU institutions have no oversight on its implementation. The present paper analyzes all the Euro Plus Pact strategic pillars, the indexes and the means of achievement related to each strategic pillar and proposes a comprehensive scoreboard for the assessment of each country’s response rate to the pact objectives. The scoreboard consists of more than 30 indexes that reflect the progress of each country in comparison to the Euro Plus Pact goals. The implementation of this scoreboard could be a useful tool for European policy-makers and decision-makers on economic governance issues both at national and EU level.