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Redesigning the EU’s economic governance architecture

In her address to the European Parliament on the State of the European Union, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen talked about the need to “rediscover the spirit of Maastricht”. This is misguided, given that the old rules damaged both political integration and economic performance. New, bold proposals are needed to allow for genuine economic […]

The revision of the fiscal rules and the future of the Next Generation EU fund

The EU response to the Covid-19 crisis has represented a Copernican revolution compared to the bloc’s approach to the previous crisis. However, the policies that have been adopted raise questions that remain to be solved, namely the revision of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) and the future role of the Next Generation EU fund […]

Watershed at Maastricht

Europe would never again be the same. The Maastricht Treaty was a watershed event that transformed the lives for 500 million people. Signed thirty years ago, on 7 February 1992, by 12 member states, it opened the doors for enlarging the Union to 27 countries. It has created more economic stability, but left the system […]

Time to demand sustainability within EU public finances

Finally, the reflection process to rethink the rules governing the economic coordination in the EU has officially reopened. The Commission’s Public Debate launched on October 19 is the first step toward a new course of action for European economic integration; a difficult nut to crack that will give headaches to the upcoming EU presidencies, but […]

Speeding up the reform of EU fiscal rules – back to work

The work on revising the fiscal rules of the European Union had started long before Covid-19. The global pandemic had put the work on hold, for good reasons. Now that the EU debt levels have risen to new highs the past year, there is a strong need to speed up the process to ensure the […]

Changing the debt rule would miss the point

Already before the pandemic, it was clear that the economic governance framework of the European Union was unfit to drive long-term prosperity and that it was particularly ill-equipped to sustain the economy in times of recession. The point however is that moving towards a better post-pandemic economic framework is not only a matter of fixing […]