The finance ministers of the euro area countries believe that the revised rules of the Stability and Growth Pact, to apply from 2025, will require a “slightly contractionary fiscal stance” at euro area level next year, in a statement they adopted on Monday 11 March.
This budgetary stance is justified in view of the macroeconomic situation, with growth stalling at the start of 2024, before a hoped-for rebound in the second half of the year, and inflation gradually approaching the 2%...