EU member state finance ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday (14 February) to discuss the reform of the EU’s debt and deficit rules, but their positions remain divergent, despite pressure to agree.
The EU Commission aims at an agreement in principle among member states in March so it can propose specific legislative changes in late March or early April of 2023 at the latest.
“We are approaching crunch time,” Executive Vice-President of the Commission Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters ahead of the meeting.
The Commission had proposed reforming the rules that determine how much debt and deficits EU member states can accumulate in November 2022. The current rules, the enforcement of which has been paused since the pandemic in 2020 due to a general escape clause, are generally thought to have been too rigid and bad for growth since they discourage public investments.
With the European Commission expected to put forward its ideas for the reform of the much-criticised fiscal rules for EU member states on Wednesday (9 November), EURACTIV takes a look at the current rules and explains why they are criticised.
The Commission’s reform proposals from last November suggested more individual, country-specific debt reduction paths that would give countries more time and leeway to invest and to implement reforms that can boost the economy and thus lower a member state’s debt burden relative to its economic power.
At the same time, there would be an enhanced role for the EU Commission as it’s up to the EU executive to determine the viability of member states’ debt reduction paths.
Ahead of the ministers’ meeting, Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said, “We have to [continue] the discussion on the relation between the approach based on national plans and the need for a common framework because we can’t have national plans without a common framework.”
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