The European Commission has adopted proposals for targeted changes to some of the EU economic governance rules. These proposals will simplify EU law, remove redundant administrative requirements, and make financial assistance more efficient. They will directly benefit national administrations by easing their administrative workload.
The Commission proposes to streamline certain elements of the EU economic governance framework related to fiscal surveillance. These amendments will reduce the reporting burden on member states, thus generating savings in administrative costs. An effective fiscal oversight will be maintained.
Better adjustments of post-programme surveillance
The proposals also amend the regulation on enhanced and post-programme surveillance for euro area member states facing serious financial difficulties (Regulation 472/2013). Under this amendment, the Regulation will refine post-programme surveillance so that its intensity can be better adjusted to the level of repayment risk and the need for corrective measures.
These changes will ensure that post-programme surveillance becomes better aligned with the Union economic governance framework, avoiding the overlap with other surveillance processes while maintaining its effectiveness in assessing repayment risks.
More efficient funding
For non-euro area member states, the Commission proposes to simplify the funding arrangements of the balance of payments facility. This applies when non-euro area member states encounter significant challenges in managing their international transactions, or are at risk of encountering such challenges, and the EU’s support mechanism are used to assist them.
The current ‘back-to-back’ funding method—where each borrowing by the Commission is directly linked to a corresponding disbursement—will be replaced by a ‘diversified‘ funding strategy. This is a more cost-effective and efficient way of supporting member states. This approach is already being used successfully in other EU funding programmes, such as the Macro-Financial Assistance+ for Ukraine and NextGenerationEU.
