A joint ETUC-NEF report by Sebastian Mang and Dominic Caddick
The political agreement between the Council and the European Parliament has introduced new numerical debt and deficit benchmarks, mandating annual
reductions in debt and deficits that will require unnecessary budget cuts.
Comparing the political agreement on fiscal rules to estimated social and green investment gaps shows that only three countries (Denmark, Sweden, Ireland) can afford to meet social and green investment needs under these rules. Even if the grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) were to continue post-2026, only five countries (Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Croatia, and Lithuania) would be able to meet at least minimum social and green investments needs. To allow all member states to meet their social and green public investment needs, an additional €300-420bn a year (2.1-2.9% of EU GDP) annually would be needed.