European Economy; Next Generation EU; Public Goods; Fiscal capacity; Ecological transition; European Democracy
Abstract :
[en] The policy study assesses the possible scope and the technical and legal difficulties in implementing a "permanent Next-Generation EU (NGEU)", a central fiscal capacity for the EU, without ever losing sight of the democratic requirement.
The implementation of NGEU has raised coordination issues between the member states as to the allocation of funds across structural priorities (e.g. ecological transition vs digitalisation) and across countries. To these coordination difficulties, Section 2 adds the issue of the democratic legitimacy of EU policies when supranational priorities constrain the autonomy of national parliaments.
The problem of accountability is not new when one thinks that supranational rules, such as the Stability and Growth Pact, impose limits on the power of parliaments to "tax and spend"; in fact, the intrinsic logic of coordination is to force (political) discretionary power to comply with (macroeconomic) functional imperatives; this inevitably produces a form of depoliticisation of fiscal policy. Throughout this policy study, we constantly keep in mind that transforming NGEU into a permanent programme offers an opportunity to fix this depoliticisation of EU policies and open a window for a breakthrough to a "political Europe".
Disciplines :
Macroeconomics & monetary economics Economic systems & public economics European & international law
Author, co-author :
Allemand, Frederic ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance (FDEF) > Department of Law (DL)
Creel, Jérôme; OFCE > Direction des études > Directeur
Saraceno, Francesco; OFCE > Direction des études > Directeur adjoint
Levasseur, Sandrine; OFCE > Senior Researcher
Leron, Nicolas; SciencesPo Paris - CEVIPOF > Associate Researcher
Language :
English
Title :
Making Next Generation EU a permanent tool
Publication date :
March 2023
Publisher :
FEPS, Brussels, Belgium
ISBN/EAN :
9782931233085
Number of pages :
23
Collection name :
FEPS Policy Study
Commissioned by :
Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, IEV, OFCE