Assessment of the EU’s fiscal framework and the way forward: persisting tensions between risk reduction and risk sharing

The ongoing debate that seeks to reform the EU’s fiscal framework is characterised by two different perspectives. Those who point to the lacklustre compliance of some Member States with current fiscal rules calling for a more stringent practice intent on reducing risks at the national level. And those who emphasise the lack of risk sharing at the EU level arguing in favour of a central fiscal capacity. Against this backdrop, this paper lays out the evolution and performance of the EU’s fiscal framework over the past decades in order to frame the current political negotiations of reform. It highlights a fundamental challenge for further fiscal integration namely the idea it can be achieved without better cooperation or representation