Council sets budget expenditure paths for 21 Member States

The Council moved a step closer to implementing the EU’s new fiscal rules by adopting today recommendations approving the first national medium-term fiscal-structural plans and setting out net expenditure paths for 21 Member States.

The national medium-term fiscal-structural plans are a cornerstone of the new economic governance framework. They set out Member States’ fiscal paths, together with planned reforms and investments. They contribute to strengthening Member States’ debt sustainability and promoting sustainable and inclusive growth.

The net expenditure paths in national medium-term fiscal-structural plans are the single operational indicator for fiscal surveillance at EU level. This budgetary constraint will frame national fiscal policies for the next four to five years and help determine whether Member States are on track to achieve or maintain sound finances.

Now that the Council has adopted its recommendations, Member States know with certainty the budgetary paths they will follow in the coming years and can plan accordingly.

The Council today endorsed net expenditure paths and national medium-term fiscal-structural plans for the Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

For the five member states that requested an extension of the fiscal adjustment period to seven years (Spain, Finland, France, Italy and Romania), the Council also endorsed the package of reform and investment commitments on which the extension is based.

A key objective of all the plans is to ensure that, at the end of the fiscal adjustment period, general government debt is on a credible downward path or remains at prudent levels, and that the general government deficit is brought below the 3% of GDP reference value and remains below that value over the medium term. The normal fiscal adjustment period is four years. Extending this period to seven years may reduce the need for fiscal adjustment each year.

Context
In the context of the new economic governance framework, effective from the end of April 2024, Member States are required to submit national medium-term fiscal-structural plans for periods of four to five years. These plans are a cornerstone of the new economic governance framework.

The plans aim to ensure that, at the end of the adjustment period, general government debt is on a credible downward path or remains at prudent levels, and that the general government deficit falls below the 3% of GDP reference value and remains below that value over the medium term.

In addition, they outline reforms and investments that respond to the main challenges identified in the context of the European Semester and address common EU priorities. To this end, each plan includes a resolution to follow a net expenditure path that effectively imposes a budgetary constraint over the life of the plan, which will cover four or five years (depending on the normal length of the legislature in each Member State).

The Council, on the basis of an assessment of the plan by the Commission, adopts a recommendation setting out the net expenditure path of the Member State concerned and, where appropriate, endorses the package of reform and investment commitments underpinning an extension of the fiscal adjustment period.

More information Council of the European Council.