About: European Fiscal Board
EU fiscal watchdog wants to scrap ‘unrealistic’ 60% debt limit
The European Fiscal Board on Tuesday (1 July) recommended to get rid of the EU's debt threshold of 60% of GDP and instead adopt realistic debt targets specific to the bloc's national economies.
The seven-point recipe to improve EU’s messy fiscal rules
The European Fiscal Board has recommended major reform of the Stability and Growth Pact in order to simplify the EU’s spending rules and favour productive investment in the era of low-interest rates.
Europeans tell Germany to spend more to boost euro economy
European ministers and institutions told Germany on Monday (8 July) to increase public spending in order to support the ailing growth in the eurozone, as decision-makers and investors see a growing risk of recession looming on the horizon.
EU fiscal board insists on stabilisation mechanism
Any systemic shock will not affect just some countries but the whole euro area so if member states want to counter it adequately, they need to have a central fiscal capacity, European Fiscal Board (EFB) president Niels Thygesen told reporters on Tuesday (25 June).
Eurozone faces critical budget issue as Italy defies the rules
For the first time since post-crisis rules entered into force, all eurozone countries are to submit their draft budget plans to the European Commission, but the Commission could also make an unprecedented move itself: sending one of budgets back to where it came from, most likely, Rome.
EU Fiscal Board blames Commission for ineffective recommendations
The European Fiscal Board complained on Wednesday (10 October) that member states had failed to use strong economic growth to reduce their public debt, and called for a major change of EU fiscal rules to ensure better enforcement by the European Commission.
Commission’s ‘stabilisation function’ very modest, says eurozone fiscal sheriff
The European Fiscal Board has discredited the Commission’s proposed fund to protect investment as “very modest”, “narrow” and not well designed, its chair Niels Thygesen said on Monday (18 June).
European Fiscal Board calls for simple but tougher rules
The European Fiscal Board, the EU's finance watchdog, wants clearer rules and real sanctions to punish profligate member states and limit the European Commission’s discretion to interpret the Stability and Growth Pact.
European fiscal board chief: ‘Stop talking about recovery, we are approaching normality’
Arguably, the EU’s economic governance framework is one of the most divisive issues among member states and top priority in Europe’s to-do list of outstanding reforms. Niels Thygesen does not shy away from this challenge. After questioning European Commission fiscal stance for this year recommendation, he proposed a return to a more ‘prudent’ orientation for 2018. In October, he will address one of the hottest topics: whether the application of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) unfairly favoured countries like France.
Member states warn EU fiscal supervision ‘inadequate’
Rules to control national spending are “complex” and the current approach is “inadequate”, the chair of the EU Network of Independent Fiscal Institutions, José Luis Escrivá, said on Tuesday (31 January).
European Fiscal Board chief: Commission’s analysis ‘made a bit too quickly’
The new European Fiscal Board began working just as the European Commission took the unprecedented step of proposing a fiscal target for the eurozone. The Board’s chief, Niels Thygesen told EURACTIV.com that the Commission should have done “more analysis” before proposing an expansionist stance.
Commission’s top advisor championed market ‘discipline’ in crisis years
Niels Thygesen, the new chair of the European Fiscal Board, called for “ambiguity” in the eurozone’s rescue mechanisms in order to let investors “impose discipline” on national governments.