This morning the EESC’s plenary session debated and adopted, by a very large majority, an opinion on enhancing economic policy coordination. The rapporteur, Stefano Palmieri (Italian, Employees’ Group – picture), unabashedly hopes that a genuine common economic policy and the coordination of budgetary policy will follow on from economic policy coordination – at least in the euro area. However, the opinion is strongly critical of the top-down approach of the European semester and of the minimal role given, above all, to the European Parliament which, Palmieri argues, should play a key role in monitoring and assessing the corrective measures proposed by the European Commission. The limited role of the institutions representing the citizen – the Parliament, but also the consultative committees – risks creating another legitimacy deficit which risks, in turn, undermining what the Commission proposes. The Palmieri opinion is an excellent example of how the Committee can forge a consensual view among the many different interests it represents.