Speakers
Chair
Tuomas Saarenheimo
President of the Eurogroup Working Group and the Economic and Financial Committee - Council of the European Union - DG for Economic Affairs and Competitiveness
Public Authorities
Nadia Calviño
The Minister - Ministry of Economy and Digitalization, Spain
Daniele Franco
The Minister - Ministry of Economy and Finance, Italy
Klaus Regling
Managing Director - European Stability Mechanism (ESM)
Gintarė Skaistė
The Minister - Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania
Other stakeholder & expert
Jacques de Larosière
Former President - EUROFI
Objectives of the roundtable
European fiscal rules, as enshrined in the Stability and Growth Pact, are currently suspended to allow governments to fight the economic fallout from the pandemic.
Under current plans, these fiscal rules will be enacted again in 2023 and the EU Commission should put forward its SGP reform proposals in the coming months.
The objective of this exchange of views is to assess the changes needed in the Stability and Growth Pact following the Covid crisis.
Points for discussion
- Is there is a need to change the Stability and Growth Pact? How to reduce the high and divergent public debt ratios in a sustainable and growth-friendly manner? How can the EU address the growing heterogeneity of economic and fiscal performance between euro area countries (e.g. the significant divergence of fiscal deficits among member states, public indebtedness, productivity levels, ….)? What future role for the 3% of GDP deficit rule and the 60% of GDP debt rule? Should EU move towards a more case-by-case framework?
- How to promote better quality and composition of public finances? What role should the EU play in promoting better quality of national public
expenditures? Is there room to enhance the role of national fiscal frameworks in overseeing the quality of public expenditure