Portugal (here, in Lisbon) is one of the rare countries in the eurozone, along with Ireland and Cyprus, that has managed to achieve a budget surplus. 260322581/Travellaggio – Stock.adobe.com
Decode – These countries provide lessons in budgetary seriousness for the rest of the eurozone, which is struggling to restore its public finances.
G27 finance ministers meet on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels to discuss reforming budget rules in the euro zone. These criteria setting thresholds for deficit (3% of GDP) and debt (60%), suspended since the coronavirus outbreak in 2020, should enter into force on 1any January 2024. The only problem is that after months and months of difficult negotiations, we still do not know which rules will apply: those rules of the Stability and Growth Agreement inherited from Maastricht, which public opinion judges to be outdated? Or those more flexible reforms proposed by the European Commission, which are praised by spending countries, such as France or Italy, but which arouse hostility in many capitals, starting with Berlin?
The result of this ambiguity: Eurozone member states submitted to the Commission this fall budget projects for 2024 that were not very voluntary on deficit and debt reduction. Especially since growth slows down.
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