European Parliament, Think Tank, Dec. 8, 2020
Executive summary
Economic policy choices in the EU rest with national governments, which – with minor exceptions – have to abide by the provisions of the framework of fiscal rules (broadly speaking, the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) and the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, (TSCG)). While this framework started as a limited and simple set of fiscal rules, over the years it has been complemented with more detailed provisions (contained in the 'six-pack' and the 'two-pack' sets of legislation) in an attempt to strike the right balance between rigour and flexibility. In this context, independent fiscal institutions were established to complement the effect of the fiscal rules.
.
To fully delegate fiscal policy to independent fiscal institutions is not politically palatable, due to the redistributive nature of fiscal policy and to the inconclusiveness of theory and practice regarding the optimal levels of deficit and debt. Therefore, the majority of these institutions are currently mandated to carry out an advisory and monitoring role in relation to both domestic fiscal policymaking and the EU fiscal rules, so as to increase transparency and accountability. In that context, they produce (or at least endorse) budgetary and/or macroeconomic forecasts, estimate the budgetary impact of proposed measures, analyse the long-run sustainability of public finances, provide recommendations on fiscal policy and assess compliance with the EU fiscal governance framework.
The EU legal framework for independent fiscal institutions is composed of provisions from i) the TSCG; ii) the Council Directive on Requirements for Budgetary Frameworks of the Member States; and iii) Regulation (EU) No 473/2013 on common provisions for monitoring and assessing draft budgetary plans and ensuring the correction of excessive deficit of the Member States in the euro area. While a Commission proposal to amend these rules in 2017 did not gain traction, they may be amended as a result of the current discussion and consultation on the reform of the EU economic governance framework.
In full:http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2020/659399/EPRS_IDA(2020)659399_EN.pdf
.
No comments:
Post a Comment