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...

The cyclically adjusted budget balance (CAB) plays a key role in the EU fiscal surveillance framework. It started off in a supporting role in the shadow of the headline defi cit and, before long, turned into the linchpin of the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact. The steep ascent was driven...

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.

European governance is in a state of upheaval. Due to the impact of the coronaviruspandemic, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the energy price crisis, Europeanfiscal policy has come under increasing pressure. In this complex situation, the EuropeanCommission considers a return to the...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the pressure it has created on member states’ public finances have led European authorities to suspend the EU’s fiscal rules. In fact, these rules had long been criticised by academics and had only been abided by exceptionally. Beyond the rules themselves, the...