The fiscal framework needs in practice to achieve a balance between, on the one hand, effective budgetary rules that allow governments to commit to sound policies and, on the other, judgements and discretion in how these are applied so that the framework adequately reflects the complexity of the...

The proposal to amend Council Directive 2011/85/EU on the EU budgetary framework may result in changes in the role of environmental sustainability and explicitly the role of green budgeting in decision-making processes. While this topic is still in its infancy in Germany compared to other EU...

In April 2023, the European Commission issued a directive proposal on EU economic governance reform. The Council cut some tasks of Independent Fiscal Institutions (IFIs) that were in the Commission directive proposal; whether this cutting is justified is an open question. Early this year, the...

Faced with the impossibility of reaching a political agreement to review the fiscal treaties, the Commission could limit itself to applying the current rules with flexibility, which would maintain an ambiguous situation: much ado about nothing.

EU fiscal rules are meant to keep public finances on a sustainable path. This paper presents a new database that tracks numerical compliance with the four main rules of the Stability and Growth Pact starting in 1998. Our assessment of numerical compliance abstracts from the many exceptions and...

EU member states observe an elaborate process to preserve macroeconomic stability: the macroeconomic imbalance procedure (MIP). The MIP is supposed to monitor and prevent macroeconomic imbalances – and if necessary, correct them. It considers a variety of variables to determine the existence...

The continuing dispute concerning the distribution of EC budgetary contributions among the member states, felt to be unjust particularly by Britaln, has been marring the Community's public image for some time now. How is this distribution effected and what possibilities are there for readjustment?