Saturday

23rd Sep 2023

EU Commission pitches loosening fiscal rules for ‘new reality’

  • Italy is struggling with a debt of around 150 percent of GDP, while Greece has seen its debt balloon to 186 percent of GDP after the financial crisis (Photo: wfabry)
Listen to article

The EU Commission on Wednesday (9 November) presented long-awaited proposals on redrawing fiscal rules for the bloc — after a decade of austerity left European countries exposed to the new challenges of energy and price hikes.

The fresh rules, seemingly inspired by the Covid-19 recovery fund structure, would have governments negotiate a four-year debt reduction path with the commission and then have EU ministers give their green light to it.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • EU Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Paolo Gentiloni present the rules revamp (Photo: European Commission)

Those four years could be extended to seven, if the extra time was justified by investment and reforms which match EU priorities, such as fighting climate change.

The commission would then monitor these plans — and sanction a member state that does not adhere to the agreed deal.

EU Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said the aim is "for a simpler system of fiscal rules with greater country-ownership and more latitude for debt reduction, but combined with stronger enforcement".

The reference values in the EU treaty remain: for the deficit at three percent of GDP, and for debt at 60 percent of GDP.

The proposal would also move away from the one-size-fits-all obligation of annual debt cuts of one-twentieth of debt above 60 percent of GDP, which is the EU threshold for public debt.

Italy is struggling with a debt of around 150 percent of GDP, while Greece has seen its debt balloon to 186 percent of GDP after the financial crisis.

Another idea by the commission is to focus on net primary spending — meaning government expenditure that excludes debt interest. Governments have previously complained that the earlier focus on structural deficit is too complex and less of a stable indicator.

The commission is hoping that EU leaders can agree on the basics of the new fiscal rules at the February 2023 summit at the latest, and then the executive could roll out the legal texts underpinning the rules.

The aim is for the new setup to come into force in 2024.

"Some, like us, will consider it excessively prescriptive towards over-indebted countries, others, like the Nordic countries, will find it unnecessarily lax," Italy's economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti told a panel of lawmakers on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

"There will be a difficult negotiation," he said.

Germany and other fiscally-conservative countries have been worried that the bilaterally-negotiated deals would allow countries to postpone reforms and investment, weighing down all eurozone countries.

To sway the so-called 'frugal' states, the commission has proposed more robust sanctions, albeit with lesser fines.

However, there is a lack of trust in the commission, which has not proposed sanctions or fines on any member state — despite reinforced rules agreed in 2011 amid the euro crisis — for breaking fiscal rules. Some member states, including France, Spain and Portugal have done so.

"The challenge now is to find agreement by next year. For that France and Germany would need to come together and avoid another open flank in their relations," Johannes Lindner, co-director of the Berlin-based Jacques Delors Centre tweeted.

'New realities'

Austerity during the economic crisis, and then the surge in public debt as governments across Europe paid to support businesses and households amid the Covid-19 emergency, has left debt reduction at the current rate impossible.

The EU in fact suspended its fiscal rules in early 2020, to prevent European economies from crumbling, but the 25-year-old pact is scheduled to be re-actived next year.

Dombrovskis said that the proposals address "new realities" as "almost every member state has broken rules at one time or another".

The former Latvian prime minister said that "debt and deficit levels are significantly higher than a decade ago".

However, the officials stopped short of damning austerity measures that have been held responsible for much social distress over the past decade.

EU economic commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said that "austerity was not strictly linked to these kind of rules," but conceded that with hindsight it is true that investments were not kept at the level they should have been.

He added that debt reduction rules had become "more and more unrealistic". However, the former Italian prime minister added that the three-percent deficit threshold "was useful to signal for governments that money is not for free".

EU re-launches mammoth fiscal debates

The EU Commission has restarted its effort to rewrite European fiscal rules, but some countries, such as Italy, are off the charts on debt in terms of an existing pact.

France, Germany at loggerheads over EU spending rules

EU finance ministers met to discuss the proposed update of the bloc's spending rules but failed to achieve any progress, with France and Germany still at odds over the reforms after the meeting.

Agenda

Spain's EU-language bid and UN summit This WEEK

While the heads of EU institutions are in New York for the UN high level meeting, Spain's EU presidency will try to convince ministers to make Catalan, Basque, and Galician official EU languages.

Latest News

  1. Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities
  2. Why Greek state workers are protesting new labour law
  3. Gloves off, as Polish ruling party fights for power
  4. Here's the headline of every op-ed imploring something to stop
  5. Report: Tax richest 0.5%, raise €213bn for EU coffers
  6. EU aid for Africa risks violating spending rules, Oxfam says
  7. Activists push €40bn fossil subsidies into Dutch-election spotlight
  8. Europe must Trump-proof its Ukraine arms supplies

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us