The EU will suspend the Stability Pact also in 2022

by time news

Time.news – This is not the time to do away with fiscal support for the economy. For this the European Commission is oriented to maintain the safeguard clause also in 2022 e deactivate it only in 2023. The Stability and Growth Pact (with all the rules it entails) will therefore remain suspended next year to give Member States more breathing space in public spending.

But be careful: the countries with the highest debt – such as Italy – must do focus on the medium term and be especially cautious. This is the indication that comes from Brussels. In the long term, an assessment will be made on the revision of tax rules, which are destined to change in the post-Covid era. It is not excluded that they will be adopted different rules based on the debt situation of the various Member States. Therefore, the strict norm of 3% in the deficit-to-GDP ratio for everyone.

Budget support continues

“There are signs of hope for the EU economy, but for the moment the pandemic continues to damage people’s livelihoods and the economy in general. To mitigate this impact and promote a resilient and sustainable recovery, our clear message is that iBudget support should continue for as long as necessary. Based on current indications, the general safeguard clause would remain active in 2022 and will be deactivated in 2023 “, explained the vice president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis.

“For 2022, it is clear that budget support will still be needed: better to err on the side of things than by default. At the same time, fiscal policies should be differentiated according to the pace of each country’s recovery and the situation of its budget” , confirmed the commissioner for economic affairs, Paolo Gentiloni. Both suggestion is to bet maximum on the funds of the Next Generation Eu for investments.

The hypothesis of new rules

It remains however high attention is paid to countries with high debt, obviously including Italy. “We have not yet elaborated the recommendations by country but those with a high level of debt recommend a prudent fiscal policy as of now, using the funds of the Recovery to finance additional investments”, indicated Dombrovskis. “While maintaining supportive policies, which are expansive overall, countries with high debt must pay attention to the medium term, and do not introduce weights that become permanent“, added Gentiloni.

And speaking of the medium term, the discussion for the modification of tax rules returns to the table. “The revision of the Stability Pact was launched before the pandemic“And” it will resume once the crisis is over “but despite” the rules were written years ago, the problem always remains that of balancing growth with fiscal stability “, so” we will not bring forward ‘pre-cooked’ ideas, but we will on public consultation ”, confirmed Dombrovskis who hopes for“ a broad consensus on the changes ”.

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