Policy Paper 118
National budgets and European surveillance: Shedding light on the debate
With euro area countries presenting their budgetary plan for 2015 to the Commission by 15 Ocauthorities’ powers in the budgetary fieltober, this Policy paper by Sofia Fernandes aims to shed light on the European d.
Since 2013, the euro area member states have to submit their budgetary plan for the following year to the Commission by 15 October. This exercise fuels the image of a Europe narowing countries’ fiscal sovereignty; and this,even though the Commission does not have the right to veto or even to directly modify a national budget. This assessment of national budgets on Brussels’s part is attracting a lot of attention this year in particular, because the exercise is associated with the spectre of the potential levying of financial sanctions against France for failure to correct its excessive deficit in 2015.
The debate raises the issue of the degree of flexibility that the Commission should show in implementing the Stability and Growth Pact. In order to clarify the debate, it is worthwhile shedding light on the rules and procedures that govern fiscal surveillance in the EU and understanding the extent of the European authorities’ powers and action in the budgetary sphere. To achieve this end, this policy paper presents four points:
1. A review of the fiscal rules with which the member states are pledged to comply and which extend well beyond the rule setting the public deficit at 3% of GDP;
2. A presentation of the fiscal surveillance procedure that unfolds throughout the year;
3. A clarification of the constraints enforced on member states which fail to comply with the fiscal rules as well as of the flexibility clauses foreseen in the Stability and Growth Pact;
4. An overview of member states’ budgetary conduct since the adoption of the Stability Pact and of their current situation.
SUR LE MÊME THÈME
ON THE SAME THEME
PUBLICATIONS
How stringent would the new Stability and Growth Pact be? And for who?
![](https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/themes/Avada-Child-Theme/images/decryptagebleu.png)
The tools for protecting the EU budget from breaches of the rule of law
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Macro-economic impact of the EU Recovery Funds
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MÉDIAS
MEDIAS
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Peut-on parvenir à une souveraineté économique européenne?
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FRANCE : L’UNION DES INDUSTRIES UTILISATRICES D’ÉNERGIE (UNIDEN) APPELLE AU RATIONNEMENT
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ÉVÉNEMENTS
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Strasbourg, 3 October 2018 – Presentation of the report “Making better use of public funding: The role of NPBIs in the next EU budget”
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Paris, 12 June 2018 – Hearing by the Special Rapporteur on Budget for European affairs of the French National Assembly
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Paris, 6 June 2018 – What territorial cohesion to build in Europe?
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Paris, 28 May 2018 – Budget meetings: the new EU financial framework
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Budapest, 24 May 2018 – The Money Trail to Europe’s Future: the Multi-Annual Financial Framework and the EU’s priorities post-2020
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Sofia, 9 March 2018 – The future of the EU budget
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Athens, 8 February 2018 – Athens’ days: Greece, paths for hope
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Brussels, 22 November 2017 – The future of the European budget
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Brussels, 25 September 2017 – Conference on the Future of EU Finances
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Barcelona, 22 September 2017 – After the crisis, a push forward for the eurozone
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Paris, 21 July 2017 – The future of the Eurozone and the Multiannual Financial Framework
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Brussels, 9 June 2017 – A budget fit for purpose. Performance, conditionalities and EU added value
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