"Our goal is to strengthen the Stability and Growth Pact, not weaken it. We need more accountability."
This was stated by German Finance Minister Christian Lindner in an intervention in the Financial Times in which he also calls for "safeguard provisions to guarantee an effective reduction in the debt / GDP ratio".
A reform, he says, "is only acceptable if we make significant improvements to the framework. Otherwise, it would not be appropriate to change the rules."
"Sound public finances are a prerequisite for enabling economic growth in the EU. We need to make sure we have budgetary reserves in place for potential future crises," Lindner says.
And he points out that "Europe's Stability and Growth Pact has not sufficiently satisfied the hopes placed so far".
Instead, we need "clear fiscal policy rules, which ensure solid public finances within the EU" and better implementation.
On the hypothesis of debt reduction plans along paths agreed by the EU States with the EU Commission on the basis of the debt sustainability analysis, which emerged in the November communication of the European executive, Lindner asks that "the multilateral nature of the surveillance be maintained budget of the
"Common fiscal rules must ensure a rapid and sufficient reduction of deficits and high debt-to-GDP ratios, while allowing for the necessary public and private investment. Improving the quality of public finances by prioritizing spending remains essential", he says, calling to the limits of the deficit to 3% and debt to 60% of gross domestic product and calling for the continuation of the excessive deficit procedure.
"Understandable and commonly agreed numerical benchmarks" are "a minimum requirement to ensure declining debt-to-GDP ratios and equal treatment," he says, thus calling for "a simple and transparent spending rule for deficit reduction" and "provisions safeguard to ensure a
"The reform must make the rules clearer. Furthermore, enforcement, as well as regulation, is crucial. Rules and regulations cannot be a paper tiger. Germany will evaluate the Commission's legislative proposals, which we expect very soon, on this basis".
According to expectations, tomorrow the European Commission will present its legislative proposal for the reform of economic governance.