The three hypotheses on the table of the Commission for the reform of the Stability Pact – Corriere.it

From our correspondent
BRUSSELS – Initially expected for the end of March or the beginning of April, the legislative proposal on the reform of the Stability and Growth pact, which will be presented by the EU commissioner for the economy Paolo Gentiloni and the vice president of the Commission Valdis Dombrovskis, has been postponed by a few weeks and could arrive at the end of the month, before the informal Ecofin to be held in Stockholm on 29 April. The complicated path fromhardening of Germanyor rather the German Finance Minister Christian Lindnerwhich in the coalition government expression of the liberals.

A detail that shouldn’t be overlooked, given that in the last German electoral consultations the liberals lost ground and are now trying to recover it, so it will be difficult for Lindner to take softer positions. As emerged at the latest Ecofin, Germany, but also the Netherlands and the other frugal countries want the reform of the Stability Pact – suspended in March 2020 in the midst of the pandemic – to come back into force next year – to include alongside greater flexibility for the Member States, there are also rules for containing expenditure and reducing debt, in particular a quantitative parameter.

Last Friday, a meeting of the Economic and Financial Committee was held in which the Commission presented some working hypotheses to the technicians of the finance ministries of the EU countries. According to what was anticipated by the Politico.eu website, they are being studied three options under study: debt reduction at a rate of 0.5% per year if countries exceed the threshold of 3% annual deficit; the introduction of a non-backloading clause, to oblige states not to postpone and undertake most of the debt adjustments in the first four years of the plan agreed with the Commission, avoiding leaving the interventions at the end of any seven years of the next government; the request to countries with a debt exceeding 60% of GDP to reduce it within a 4-year horizon.

Not without saying that the Commission is proceeding with all three hypotheses, which Germany likes. Contacts are ongoing with all interested Member States, in bilateral and multilateral format such as that of the Economic and Financial Committee. The square has not yet been found. Berlin, however, is in no hurry because he believes that in January 2024 there will still be the old rules that will come back into force.