Centraliszation or Decentraliszation of European Fiscal Rules? On the Reform Proposal of the European Commission

The paper discusses the proposals of the EU Commission for the reform of the EU fiscal rules. Against the background of the development of the rules and the experience with the compliance, it becomes clear that the proposals represent a change of course. The decentraliszed responsibility in monitoring fiscal rules, developed after the financial crisis, will be weakened. Rather, a re-centraliszation of fiscal surveil-lance is proposed. In the author’s view, this would also weaken also national ownership of the fiscal rules and thus erode their effectiveness. Implementation of the proposals would instead lead to greater political capture of the EU fiscal rules.