The EU’s long-term fiscal challenges

EU finance ministers met at the April 2023 informal ECOFIN
meeting to discuss the reform of the fiscal governance framework
as proposed by the European Commission. Bruegel researchers were
asked to contribute to this discussion by providing information
on the long-term fiscal needs that countries will have and how
well they may be able to meet these needs.

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Maria Demertzis
invites Zsolt Darvas and Jeromin Zettelmeyer to share their
insights on the implications of long-term fiscal challenges
facing the European Union. 

In their latest report, the authors identify that the pandemic
and subsequent price shocks triggered by Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine have increased longer-term fiscal pressures in the
European Union through higher debt, higher expected real interest
rates and higher public investment needs. 

Relevant publication: Zettelmeyer, J., G.
Claeys, Z. Darvas, L. Welslau and S. Zenios (2023) ‘The
longer-term fiscal challenges facing the European Union’ Policy
Brief 10/2023, Bruegel

This Policy Brief is a version of a paper prepared for the
Working Session II of the Informal Meeting of EU Economy and
Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, Stockholm, 29 April
2023.