The European Semester is an annual cycle of economic and budgetary policy coordination in which guidance is provided to Member States before they take policy decisions at national level. The Department of An Taoiseach centrally coordinates Ireland’s participation in the Semester process. The Semester process starts every year in November, when the Commission publish the Annual Growth Survey, which outlines the general economic priorities for the European Union, and the Alert Mechanism Report, which identifies Member States that are experiencing economic imbalances – and is part of the European early warning system that identifies economic issues or sectors that countries need to address. Later in March, the European Commission publish a Country Report for each Member State. This assesses the progress made by each Member State in addressing the issues identified in the previous year’s Country Specific Recommendations. In April, Member States respond to the Commission’s analysis in the Country Report by submitting a National Reform Programme, which provides an overview of structural reforms and policy actions that are currently are underway and also by submitting the Stability Programme Update, which sets out the updated macroeconomic and fiscal forecasts for the period 2018 – 2021. Once the Commission has considered these, it publishes the Country Specific Recommendations for each Member State on policy measures to be considered by Member States over the coming twelve to eighteen months.