Press releases

Highly indebted Eurozone member states should use the currently low levels of interest rates and the fact that growth rates exceed interest rates in some countries to reduce public debt, according to economists from EconPol Europe. Nevertheless, they say, current conditions should be utilized to boost one-time investment projects, particularly in countries where public investment has been low in recent years.

In the debate on euro area fiscal governance, the current deficit rules of the EU have repeatedly been criticised to have a pro-cyclical effect, leading to overly lax fiscal policies in good times and a too restrictive regime in bad times. An analysis by EconPol researchers Clemens Fuest (ifo) and Daniel Gros) (CEPS) shows that most major EU countries are over-spending at a level not compatible with spending rules for sustainable public finances.

European Commission macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policy announcements have a direct impact on the value of sovereign bond spreads, according to new research from EconPol Europe.

Researchers from EconPol Europe say a system of national convergence roadmaps will achieve a faster implementation of structural reforms for economic convergence in Europe than the country-specific recommendations made by the European Commission in the context of the European Semester.

Three months ahead of the European elections, ifo President Clemens Fuest has expressed his concern about the state of the European Union. "The EU resembles more and more the Habsburg Empire towards its end, when internal and external forces were striving towards disintegration. The EU, its member states and parliament must take countermeasures. First, the EU must do everything it can to avoid a hard Brexit at the end of March," Fuest said on Tuesday in Brussels at the presentation of the European Report 2019 of the EEAG Research Group.