European finance ministers look set to agree changes in the way they present budget plans to their peers and the Commission to ensure a more level playing field when they are assessed. At a time when economic slowdown threatens the budget deficit goals of Europe's largest economies, ministers meeting in Brussels next week are likely to endorse a report which cautions against mechanistically deriving national implications from broader assessments.
The report, prepared by EU finance officials, also calls for the bloc's 15 members to submit more quickly their annual stability and convergence programmes which spell out their fiscal plans in the coming years. It proposes governments hand in their updates shortly after they send their budget proposals to national parliaments, and between mid-October and the beginning of December. The report also recommends the continued use of both cyclically-adjusted balances and nominal balances in assessing budgetary positions.
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