The European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, sought to strike a balance on Thursday 24 February between the need for EU Member States to “gradually and realistically” achieve a consolidation of public finances in order to absorb the public debt accumulated since the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, and the need to free up budgetary leeway to stimulate the ecological and technological transitions necessary to achieve the objective of climate neutrality by 2050.
“It is clear that sustainable growth is the best way to ensure debt sustainability, and this must be a central element of any reform” of the Stability and Growth Pact, he said at the EUROFI conference in Paris.
The Commissioner confirmed that the Commission would present guidelines for Member States’ budgetary policies for 2023 on Wednesday or Thursday. The document will take into account “the increased uncertainty on the economic horizon as a consequence of the Russian attack on Ukraine”, he said.
These guidelines will guide Member States in preparing their draft budget plans for next year in the period between the reinstatement of the Pact in early 2023 and the introduction of new fiscal rules for which proposals, possibly legislative, will be put forward before the summer.
The Commission estimates that €650 billion of investment will be needed each year between now and 2030, of which €520 billion for the green transition and €125 billion for the digital transition. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)