Brussels is trying to reintroduce the bloc’s rules for public spending without triggering austerity or undermining the climate fight.
The European Commission will keep its debt rules on ice next year
when the EU’s fiscal framework is supposed to come back into force,
according to a draft guidance obtained by POLITICO.
The guidance, if left unchanged, will come as a great relief to
France, Italy and Spain, which are among a half-dozen EU countries that
will come out of the pandemic with even heavier debt burdens. Brussels paused
the rules in March 2020 so that treasuries could prevent an economic
fallout from the pandemic without fear of punishment, with the idea of
reintroducing the framework starting in January 2023.
The Commission's new message, in a nutshell: The EU’s executive arm
will be lenient — provided that governments get their finances under
control and start chipping away at their debt.
The Commission plans to present its new fiscal policy guidance to
capitals in early March so they can begin planning their draft budgetary
plans — an exercise Brussels also carried out last year.
The document is a nod to the difficulties of reinforcing the
so-called Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) in the post-pandemic world.
Countries spent heavily to prevent mass unemployment and bankruptcies
amid national lockdowns, pushing debt levels up across Europe....
more at POLITICO
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