Resetting EU budget discipline rules in 2023 should be ‘rethought’ due to Ukraine war

The minister of finance, João Leão, argued Monday in Brussels that the reinstatement of European rules on budgetary discipline, scheduled for 2023, should be “reconsidered and rethought”, given the “very significant economic impact” of the war in Ukraine.

“In this context where this situation has such a significant impact in economic terms, it is very important to keep fiscal policy agile and flexible to help countries cope with this situation. The European Commission and the finance ministers had already decided to reinstate the budgetary rules in 2023, after three years of suspension because of the pandemic, but Portugal believes […] that the reinstatement of the rules should be equated and rethought, with a final decision in May, because we are in a context that is different from what was anticipated because of [Russia’s] attack on Ukraine,” he said.

João Leão was speaking at the entrance to a meeting of eurozone finance ministers (Eurogroup), which will be followed on Tuesday by the Council of European Union finance ministers (Ecofin), at meetings where “the economic implications of [Russia’s] military attack on Ukraine, the orientation of budgetary policy for 2023 and the coordination of policies in this context” will be discussed.