Publication

In light of the European Commission's forecast that only five eurozone countries exhibited a fiscal balance better than the one required by the 2013 Fiscal Compact treaty, this commentary examines why there is very little policy debate in the EU over the treaty violations. The authors argue that the violations of the Fiscal Compact treaty show that it is not possible to put state fiscal policy under such strict restrictions and that such regulations as found in the treaty are discarded as soon as they become politically inconvenient.