23
Apr
2024
Watch
Effective coordination of economic policies and multilateral budgetary surveillance - Speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure – amending Regulation - Requirements for budgetary frameworks of the Member States – amending Directive (joint debate – Economic governance)
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen. Binding fiscal rules are essential in a single market with a single currency, but in which economic and fiscal policy remains a national competence. Unequal debt levels in the euro area strain the stability of the euro and at the same time ensure that public investment for higher-debt countries is accompanied by disproportionate financing costs. Reform was overdue. The new fiscal rules are much more realistic than those in place today, and at the same time the new rules allow national specificities to be taken into account much more comprehensively. So far, so good. But even with the new fiscal rules, the question remains unresolved as to how a significant increase in public and private investment to finance the digital and climate-neutral transformation can be guaranteed in the future. To this end, we need the creation of a new European Investment Fund as a continuation of the European Recovery Fund, which is due to expire in 2026. Such a European fiscal capacity must be a key element of the next multiannual financial framework.