Die im März 2025 beschlossenen Änderungen bei der Schuldenbremse eröffnen erhebliche zusätzliche Kreditfinanzierungsspielräume. Allerdings muss die deutsche Finanzpolitik nicht nur die Regelgrenzen des Grundgesetzes beachten. Auch die europäischen Vorgaben im Rahmen des Stabilitäts- und...

Although the new EU fiscal rules improve the macroeconomic logic and differentiation, they offer very little leeway for urgently needed, debt-financed defence spending. However, the EU Commission's proposal to solve this via flexible escape clauses undermines the credibility of the rules. A new...

The paper discusses the proposals of the EU Commission for the reform of the EU fiscal rules. Against the background of the devel-opment of the rules and the experience with the compliance, it becomes clear that the proposals represent a change of course. The decentral-iszed responsibility in...

Credibility of the revised fiscal rules will be crucial so that vulnerable countries can benefit from confidence effects. National ownership will be key in that respect and can be supported via a stronger role of independent national fiscal institutions.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the pressure it has created on member states’ public finances have led European authorities to suspend the EU’s fiscal rules. In fact, these rules had long been criticised by academics and had only been abided by exceptionally. Beyond the rules themselves, the...

Mit der Einsetzung der Schuldenbremse als oberste Finanzregel des Schweizer Bundeshaushalts fand eine lange Phase der Verrechtlichung von Haushaltsführung ihren vorläufigen Abschluss. Die Schuldenbremse bindet die Finanzpolitik an eine übergeordnete Fiskalregel. Sie soll eine stabile,...

This paper discusses how the technical foundations of the EU’s fiscal rules constrain the fiscal space in EU countries in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We review the evidence on how estimates of potential output, which are at the heart of essential control indicators in EU fiscal...

Following the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe this spring and subsequent measures to contain the pandemic, the European Commission drastically revised its economic and fiscal forecasts. The Summer 2020 Economic Forecast projects that the euro area economy will contract by 8.7% in 2020. The...

There was a widespread consensus on the need to modify fiscal rules in the EU even before the COVID-19 crisis. The aim of this article is to reflect on the reform of fiscal rules from a broader perspective, looking at three different dimensions: the political economy of fiscal rules in the...