Conditionality

User Guide

This dashboard allows users to view policy conditions either by their respective revisions or by their compliance assessment via the ‘View’ filter in left-hand menu.

In the ’Conditions and revisions’ view, the user can explore when a new action or group of actions was first introduced (‘first mention’), and how requirements may have changed throughout time (’unchanged or broadly unchanged’, ‘significant redrafting’). Hovering over the circles in the table displays the details of these changes across the different Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) versions. Clicking on the circles, or on a given sector, opens up a list with details of the conditions for the sub-sectors.

In the ‘Compliance assessment’ view is, the user can see assessment outcomes (from European Commission review reports) classified by degree of completion, ranging from ’observed’ to ‘not observed’, represented by colour as defined in the legend in the left-hand menu. Hovering over the smaller circles displays details for each programme review.

In both views, hovering over circles in the bottom table displays the full texts of conditions and assessments. Clicking on the circles also unveils links to the original documents. If a certain action displays multiple dates next to it, this indicates that conditions are related across reviews. If a certain date has multiple circles next to it, this indicates a condition has multiple sub-components. The list of conditions and revisions may be filtered by condition type or by selecting a sector or sub-sector in the top panel. In this panel, it is possible to select groups of conditions by review date or by the version of the MoU. There is also a search function (’Wildcard match’ in left-hand menu) which can be used to find a specific topic, e.g. ‘taxation’.

For both types of ‘Views’, the user may select one or more ‘Condition types’ to be displayed (see the glossary for their definitions).

Items classified as ‘not relevant’ are instances where a clause is mentioned in the compliance assessment, but not assessed. This is sometimes the case when clauses were not yet due or became obsolete.

Conditionality Dashboard

Context Information

The ESM provides financial assistance to beneficiary countries on the condition that they adjust their economic policies to overcome the problems that led them to seek financial aid. This requirement, known as conditionality, usually specifies reforms aimed at eliminating or reducing weaknesses in the beneficiary country’s economy, restoring competiveness, and regaining market access. These policy conditions are listed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which is signed by the beneficiary country and the European Commission, and approved by the ESM Board of Governors.

During each programme, the implementation of the agreed reforms is verified. For this purpose, review missions with representatives of the European Commission, in liaison with the ECB, ESM, and the IMF (when applicable), periodically meet with the beneficiary country’s authorities. Further disbursements are made only if the institutions positively assess reform implementation.

The Conditionality dashboard allows users to view the full range of policy conditions for each programme, as well as the compliance assessment as presented in reports published after each review mission.

Glossary

Conditionality dashboard – methodology

The findings of programme review missions are summarised in review or compliance reports. The content of these reports, as well as the original Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), are the primary sources for this database on conditionality. The reporting format of the six programmes covered was often inconsistent. One important aim of this database is to make certain key concepts consistent without re-evaluating or altering historical records. During reviews, the compliance with due conditions is assessed and the MoU is redrafted. However, it is challenging to determine the degree of compliance with an initial condition in the review reports as it is sometimes hard to follow to which exact condition a certain compliance assessment is related to, and how it was modified across subsequent reviews. For the purpose of this database, automatic and manual matching techniques have been applied to make it possible to relate assessment to condition and display specific conditions across time in a consistent manner. In addition, the degree of compliance as well as the sector-grouping were harmonised across programmes. Programme experts from the European Stability Mechanism and the European Commission reviewed the grouping of conditions in the dashboard prior to the publication of the database. When downloading the data in spreadsheet form, the additional columns ‘Sector (original)’, and ‘Assessment status (original)’, refer to the heading and assessment as written in the original document. In addition, the spreadsheet includes links to the source documents and page reference.

Memorandum of Understanding

A document negotiated and signed on behalf of the ESM by the European Commission, in liaison with the ECB, the IMF (where applicable) and programme countries, detailing the policy conditions to be implemented in exchange for financial assistance.

Prior action

A specific action that must be taken in order to complete the current review, so that an instalment (EFSF) or a tranche (ESM) of financing can be approved.

Continuous action

A specific action that needs to be complied with throughout the programme.

Key deliverable

A specific action that needs to be completed as part of a future review. Key deliverables become prior actions as the programme progresses.

Milestone

A specific action that must be taken relatively soon after the current review is completed, and which is linked to the release of a disbursement of financing, which was relevant to certain cases where a tranche was released in multiple disbursements.