Coordination arrangements across government sub-sectors in EU Member States

Coordination arrangements should ensure that fiscal policy is conducted in a consistent manner across the various public entities and sub-sectors of general government. This dimension has gained in relevance as recent fiscal governance reforms in the European Union have put a premium on sound coordination. Using information from the Commission Fiscal Governance database, the note identifies hard and soft coordination instruments and discusses their respective design and merits. Overall, it is found that subnational government is being equipped with specific fiscal rules in a growing number of Member States. Soft coordination mechanisms for their part are becoming more structured and results-oriented with in particular improved monitoring procedures. The note finally suggests a number of avenues to improve existing coordination mechanisms to integrate further domestic budgetary timelines and ensure a genuine involvement of subnational government within the annual budget cycle.