BRUSSELS - The European Commission's judgments on the draft budget laws for 2021 are on the way, but this year's exercise will be very different from previous ones.
There will be no quantitative judgments, that is, the deviations from the objectives agreed with the EU on public accounts will not be measured, because the Stability Pact is suspended and with it also the requests for adjustments in progress to correct the out-of-control trajectories.
Currently all countries have deficits and debts that go beyond the parameters, because Brussels has allowed them to support their economies without worrying about budget constraints.
However, it is not a blank check, so much so that
in today's judgments, the EU technicians will assess the quality of the measures, that is, if they serve the purpose of temporary support to the economies or if they go too far, granting permanent support that will weigh on future debt, jeopardizing post-recovery Covid
.
The EU will pay particular attention to debts already high before the pandemic, such as the Italian one.
Reconfirming, for example, the usual in-depth monitoring envisaged by the macroeconomic imbalance procedure (Mip) which in the spring will lead to a new judgment to determine whether the debt is an excessive imbalance or not.
Two years ago Italy risked a procedure.
In 2021, with the Pact suspended, it will not run the same risk but will certainly remain under special surveillance which will be asked to reduce the debt as soon as possible.
As confirmed by the commissioner for economics
Paolo Gentiloni
, according to which the debt "must not be an obstacle to the response that the various European countries give in supporting their economy", but at the same time "the debt problem is not extinguished" and " therefore in the medium term certainly the debt reduction process must be considered, we cannot cancel this issue from the debate and I know very well that the government is not canceling it ".
Follow the press conference of the vice president of the EU Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, and of the commissioners Gentiloni and Schmit on the autumn package of the European semester.
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