The programmes for financial market stabilisation and economic stimulus, which were implemented to cushion the effects of the financial and economic crisis, as well as additional government expenditures in the wake of the crisis, have entailed substantial costs for government budgets....

The Austrian Federal Government has set itself the goal to reduce the Maastricht deficit to 2.7 percent of the GDP by 2013. In the medium term, a consolidation of the public budgets will be necessary to regain room for manoeuvre for budget policy and to avoid undesirable distributive effects of...