Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 09:06, 22 December 2012

Fiscal Compact

Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union
Signatories to the Fiscal Compact  Eurozone members (ratified)  Eurozone members (not ratified)  Others (ratified)  Others (not ratified)   EU members which did not sign the Fiscal Compact
Drafted	30 January 2012 (2012-01-30)
Signed	2 March 2012 (2012-03-02)
Location	Brussels, Belgium
Effective	1 January 2013
Condition	Ratified by twelve eurozone countries
Signatories	25 EU member states (All except: Czech Republic and the United Kingdom)
Ratifiers	class="wikitable "
Depositary	General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union
Languages	22 (All EU languages except Czech)
Full text
Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union at Wikisource

The Fiscal Compact (formally, the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; also referred to as TSCG or more plainly the Fiscal Stability Treaty), is an intergovernmental treaty introduced as a new stricter version of the previous Stability and Growth Pact, being signed on 2 March 2012 by all member states of the European Union (EU), except the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. The treaty will enter into force for all states which have ratified it on 1 January 2013.

No later than one year after the Fiscal Compact enters into force, the ratifying member states are required to have enacted laws requiring their national budgets to be in balance or in surplus within the treaty's definition. These laws must also provide for a self-correcting mechanism to prevent their breach. The treaty defines a balanced budget as one which has a general budget deficit less than 3.0% of GDP, and a structural deficit of less than 1.0% of GDP if the debt level is below 60% -or else it shall be below 0.5% of GDP. The treaty also introduces new "debt brake" criteria, defining how fast debt-to-GDP levels above 60% of GDP shall decline to a level below that limit. If the annual account or budget is found not to comply with the structural deficit criteria and/or the debt brake criteria, then the country will have to correct the issue within the timeline, nature and targeted size deemed necessary by the European Commission. Ratifying states involved in a bailout program are exempted to comply with the new strict criteria until the year after their bailout program has ended.

The treaty also places compliance with its budgetary and other requirements under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. This contrasts with the EU treaties which specifically exclude this jurisdiction. If ratified, any ratifying state may bring enforcement proceedings against any other ratifying state before the Court of Justice, if they fail to fulfil their obligations under the Fiscal Compact. A state found in breach of its obligations can ultimately be fined up to 0.1% of its GDP.

History

Background

Most member states of the EU have adopted the euro. In these states, which together constitute the eurozone, monetary policy is determined by the European Central Bank (ECB). Thus the setting of central bank interest rates and monetary easing is in the sole domain of the European Central Bank, while taxation and government expenditure remain mostly under the control of national governments, albeit within the limits imposed by the Stability and Growth Pact. The EU has a monetary union but not a fiscal union.

In 2007 then ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet proposed that the EU adopt a form of fiscal union to ensure prudent fiscal policies across all member states. Similar statements have been made by The Economist magazine and the International Monetary Fund. Angel Ubide from the Peterson Institute for International Economics joined this view, suggesting that long term stability in the eurozone required a common fiscal policy rather than controls on portfolio investment.

Response to the sovereign debt crisis

Much greater fiscal union, at least in the eurozone, is seen by some as either the natural next step in European integration or as a necessary solution to the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis. Combined with EMU, fiscal union would lead to complete economic integration.

In spring 2010, Germany had pressured other member states to adopt a balanced budget law to achieve a clear cap on new debt, strict budgetary discipline and balanced budgets. Debt brakes applied across the eurozone would imply much tighter fiscal discipline than the bloc’s existing rules requiring deficits of less than 3 per cent of GDP.

In late 2010, proposals were made to reform some rules of the Stability and Growth Pact to strengthen fiscal policy coordination. In February 2011, France and Germany had proposed the 'Competitiveness Pact' to strengthen economic coordination in the euro area. Spain also endorsed the proposed pact. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also verbally championed the idea of a fiscal union, as have various incumbent European finance ministers and the head of the European Central Bank.

In March 2011, a new reform of the Stability and Growth Pact was initiated, aiming at strengthening the rules by adopting an automatic procedure for imposing penalties in case of breaches of either the deficit or the debt rules.

By the end of 2011, Germany, France and some other smaller EU countries went a step further and vowed to create a fiscal union across the eurozone with strict and enforceable fiscal rules and automatic penalties embedded in the EU treaties. German chancellor Angela Merkel also insisted that the European Commission and the European Court of Justice must play an "important role" in ensuring that countries meet their obligations.

In that perspective, strong European Commission "oversight in the fields of taxation and budgetary policy and the enforcement mechanisms that go with it could further infringe upon the sovereignty of eurozone member states". Think-tanks such as the World Pensions Council (WPC) have argued that a profound revision of the Lisbon Treaty would be unavoidable if Germany were to succeed in imposing its economic views, as stringent orthodoxy across the budgetary, fiscal and regulatory fronts would necessarily go beyond the treaty in its current form, thus further reducing the individual prerogatives of national governments.

Negotiations

On 9 December 2011 at the European Council meeting, all 17 members of the eurozone agreed on the basic outlines of a new intergovernmental treaty to put strict caps on government spending and borrowing, with penalties for those countries who violate the limits. All other non-eurozone countries except the United Kingdom said they were also prepared to join in, subject to parliamentary vote. Originally EU leaders planned to change existing EU treaties but this was blocked by British prime minister David Cameron, who demanded that the City of London be excluded from future financial regulations, including the proposed EU financial transaction tax.

On 30 January 2012 after several weeks of negotiations, all EU leaders except those from United Kingdom and Czech Republic endorsed the final version of the fiscal pact at the European summit in Brussels, though the treaty was left open to accession by any EU member state and Czech prime minister Petr Nečas said his country may join in the future. The treaty only becomes binding on the non-eurozone signatory states after they adopt the euro as their currency, unless they declare their intention to be bound by part, or all, of the treaty at an earlier date. The new treaty was signed on March 2 and will come into force on 1 January 2013, if it has been ratified (which requires the approval of national parliaments) by at least 12 countries that use the euro. Ireland held a referendum on the treaty on 31 May 2012, which was approved by 60.3%.

EU countries that signed the agreement will have to ratify it by 1 January 2013. Once a country has ratified the Treaty it has another year, until 1 January 2014, to implement a balanced budget rule in their binding legislation. Only countries with such rule in their legal code by 1 March 2013 will be eligible to apply for bailout money from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

Although the European Fiscal Compact was negotiated between 25 of the 27 member states of the EU, it is not formally part of European Union law. It does, however, contain a provision to attempt to incorporate the pact into the Treaties establishing the European Union within five years of its entering into force.

Content

The fiscal pact contains the following rules:

• Balanced budget rule: General government budgets shall be balanced or in surplus. The annual structural deficit must not exceed 0.5 percent of GDP. Countries with government debt levels significantly below 60 percent and where risks in terms of long-term sustainability of public finances are low, can reach a structural deficit of at most 1 percent of GDP.
• Debt brake rule: Member States whose government debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds the 60% reference level, shall reduce it at an average rate of minimum one twentieth (5%) per year of the exceeded percentage points, where the calculated average period shall be either the 3-year period covering the "last fiscal year and forecasts for the current and next year" or the "three last fiscal years". In example, if the debt-to-GDP ratio was recorded to be 100.0% in the year preceding the last national account, it should then for the period covering the last national account and the subsequent two years decline minimum with the avereage of 2 percentage points per year - so that it three years later will be down at maximum 94.0%. This debt rule has already been formulated as law under EU Regulation 1467/97, which was amended by the EU six pack of reforms. As it is also an essential part of the Treaty on Stability, the signatories are encouraged to refer to EU Regulation 1467/97 when they implement the rule into domestic law. The new strict debt brake rule already entered into force at the EU level on 13 December 2011, but it should be noted, that it also feature a paragraph granting the 23 EU member states with an ongoing EDP in November 2011 a 3-year exemption to comply with the rule, which will start in the year where the member state manage to get their current EDP abrogated. In example, this will mean that Ireland will only be obliged to comply with the debt brake rule in 2019, given that they as expected manage to correct their EDP in 2015 (with subsequent abrogation of the EDP in 2016). Another example is Germany, where the abrogated EDP in 2012 have set the compliance deadline for the debt brake rule in 2015; although it should here be noted that Germany already have implemented a domestic law aiming for a faster compliance, so this country will in fact have a stricter national law compared to the requirement by the Fiscal Compact (which is also allowed). During the years where the 23 out of 27 EU member states are exempted to comply with the new debt brake rule, they will still be obliged to comply with the "old debt brake rule" that require debt-to-GDP ratios in excess of 60% to be "sufficiently diminished and must be approaching the 60% reference value at a satisfactory pace in the most recent fiscal year and in the forecasts for the current and subsequent year". Only for as long as debt levels stay below 60% of GDP, they are allowed to increase on a yearly basis.
• Automatic correction mechanism: In the event of a developed deviation from the "balanced budget rule" or "debt brake rule", an automatic correction mechanism shall be triggered. The exact design of this mechanism will be defined individually by each Member State, but as a minimum it has to comply with the basic principles outlined by the European Commission's directive published in June 2012. This directive have also noted common principles for the role and independence of institutions responsible at national level for monitoring the observance of the rules, which is one of the key elements to ensure that the "automatic correction mechanism" will actually work.
• Embedding the rules into domestic law: All three rules mentioned above, shall be embedded in each Member States' national legal systems at statutory level or higher. All signing parties recognise the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice to verify, that both the "balanced budget rule", "debt brake rule" and "automatic correction mechanism" has been embedded into national law before the deadline outlined by the treaty, and that the design of the domestic national law is in full compliance with the June 2012 directive from the European Commission. In the event that full compliance can not be verified, the Member State will be noted and given a deadline to respond. If compliance issues continue to exist -despite of several notifications to fix the issues- the court will as a last resort be able to fine a country with a penalty equivalent to up to 0.1% of GDP. The money goes either to the ESM (if a Euro country is fined) or to the general EU budget (in case of fines imposed on non-eurozone signatories).
• Correction of deficit/debt deviations: If the automatic correction mechanism discover a deviation, it shall immediately correct the situation, unless if the deviation has been caused by extraordinary events outside control of the Member State or the arrival of a severe economoic downturn. In addition it is also important to note, that Member States already subject to an "Excessive Deficit Procedure" (EDP) shall not immediately start correcting the figures down to the Treaty limits, but instead correct them down so they comply with the "adjustment path" (medium-term budgetary objectives) previously approved by the European Commission.
• Economic Partnership Programmes: Member States in Excessive Deficit Procedure shall submit to the Commission and the Council for endorsement, an economic partnership programme detailing the necessary structural reforms to ensure an effectively durable correction of excessive deficits. The implementation of the programme, and the yearly budgetary plans consistent with it, will be monitored by the Commission and the Council.
• Debt issuance coordination: A mechanism will be put in place for the ex ante reporting by Member States of their national debt issuance plans.
• ESM treaty interrelation: Member States commit to accelerate the ESM treaty ratification and entry into force, as well as amendments to it. The ESM treaty has outlined as a pre-condition for payment of financial support to a Member State that it shall have fully ratified and implemented the "Treaty on Stability" into national law.
• Implementation and coordination of policies improving competitiveness, employment and financial stability: Member States agree to take the necessary actions and measures, "which are essential to the good functioning of the euro area in pursuit of the objectives of fostering competitiveness, promoting employment, contributing further to the sustainability of public finances and reinforcing financial stability." They also ensure that all major economic policy reforms that they plan to undertake will be discussed ex-ante and, where appropriate, coordinated among themselves and with the institutions of the European Union.
• Meetings for ongoing policy governance: Eurozone countries shall meet at least twice a year with the European Commission president to discuss Euro matters. Non-eurozone countries may join in at least once a year.

The implementation of the programme, and the yearly budgetary plans consistent with it, will be monitored by the European Commission and by the Council. As soon as a Member State is recognised to be in breach of the 3% ceiling, the Commission submits a proposal of counter-measures, concerning in particular the nature, the size and the time-frame of the corrective action to be undertaken, while taking into consideration country-specific sustainability risks. Progress towards and respect of the medium-term objective shall be evaluated on the basis of an overall assessment with the structural balance as a reference, including an analysis of expenditure net of discretionary revenue measures. A qualified majority of Member States may reject these proposals.

Ratification

On 31 May 2012, the Irish electorate voted in favour by a margin of 60.3% to 39.7% on a turnout of 50%, to empower the Irish Parliament to ratify the Fiscal Compact. Ireland is the only EU member state to have had a referendum on the treaty. As of 21 December 2012, the Fiscal Compact had been completely ratified by 12 out of 17 eurozone countries and by 4 out of the 8 other committed EU member states.

Eurozone

Signatory	Conclusion date	Institution	Majority needed			AB	Deposited	Ref.
Austria	4 July 2012	Federal Council	50%	103	60	0	30 July 2012
	6 July 2012	National Council	50%	42	13	0
	17 July 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Belgium		Senate	50%
		Chamber of Representatives	50%
		Royal Assent	-
		Walloon Parliament (regional)	50%
		- French Community	50%
		- German Community	50%
		Brussels Parliament (regional)	50%
		Flemish Parliament (regional and community matters)	50%
Cyprus	20 April 2012	Council of Ministers	-	Approved			26 July 2012
	29 June 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Estonia	17 October 2012	Riigikogu	50%	63	0	0	5 December 2012
	5 November 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Finland	18 December 2012	Parliament	50%	139	38	1	21 December 2012
	-	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
France	11 October 2012	Senate	50%	307 (91%)	32 (9%)	8	26 November 2012
	9 October 2012	National Assembly	50%	477 (87%)	70 (13%)	21
	22 October 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Germany	29 June 2012	Bundesrat	66.7%	65	0	4	27 September 2012
	29 June 2012	Bundestag	66.7%	491	111	6
	13 September 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Greece	28 March 2012	Parliament	50%	194	59	0	10 May 2012
Ireland	20 April 2012	Dáil (ref. bill)	50%	93	21	N/A	14 December 2012
	24 April 2012	Senate (ref. bill)	50%	Approved
	31 May 2012	Referendum	50%	60.3%	39.7%	N/A
	27 June 2012	Presidential Assent (ref. bill)	-	Granted
	13 November 2012	Dáil (statute bill)	50%	90	22	N/A
	20 November 2012	Senate (statute bill)	50%	Approved
	27 November 2012	Presidential Assent (statute bill)	-	Granted
Italy	12 July 2012	Senate	50%	216	24	21	14 September 2012
	19 July 2012	Chamber of Deputies	50%	368	65	65
	23 July 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Luxembourg		Chamber of Deputies	50%
		Grand Ducal Assent	-
Malta		House of Representatives	T.B.D.
Netherlands		Senate	50%
		House of Representatives	50%
		Royal Assent	-
Portugal	13 April 2012	Assembly	50%	204	24	2	5 July 2012
	27 June 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Slovakia	18 December 2012	National Council	50% (absolute) min.76 yes votes	138	0	2
		Presidential Assent	-
Slovenia	19 April 2012	National Assembly	50%	74	0	2	30 May 2012
	30 April 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Spain	18 July 2012	Senate	50%	240	4	1	27 September 2012
	21 June 2012	Congress of Deputies	50%	309	19	1
	25 July 2012	Royal Assent	-	Granted

Notes

1. ^ The French constitutional court ruled that a constitutional amendment was not required to ratify the treaty, meaning that the French parliament could approve it with a simple majority.

Ratification process

A country having completed its national ratification approval at all the required political levels, must still deposit the ratification instruments at the international level to complete the process. If a legal complaint is filed to a constitutional court, this can delay the deposit and ratification, or even cancel it, if the court supports the complaint. The list below has summarizes the status and development of the ratification process. Red marked countries have still not submitted the treaty. Yellow marked have started the parliamentary ratification. Blue marked have completed all political stages of the ratification (incl. a royal/presidential assent), and finally the green marked have completed the ratification process with a deposit of the ratification instruments:

• Belgium: Ratification of the treaty, will need a pass by all seven parliaments with simple majority. The Prime Minister promised in spring 2012 to establish a coordinating work group with the sole task of ensuring that ratification is completed by the end of 2012. On 14 March, a motion was submitted to the Chamber of Representatives by members of the opposition calling for a referendum to be scheduled. A similar referendum motion was submitted to the Senate on 9 May. These two motions could, if approved by a majority in both chambers, block the start of the ratification process in the parliaments.
  The central government presented a draft law for parliamentary ratification of the Fiscal Compact on 13 July, and submitted it for legal evaluation by the Council of State. Once the verdict arrives, it will be submitted to the Senate and six other parliaments for their ratification process to start. In July 2012, the President of the Chamber of Representatives expected it would be submitted for the parliament in the autumn session, which was scheduled to begin on 9 October - after the summer recess. On 18 December, the Senate's referendum proposal was put on the agenda for a meeting of the reponsible External Relations and National Defense committee, but for unknown reasons it was not being treated on the meeting. As of 20 December 2012, none of the referendum proposals had been returned by the responsible committees for the parliamentary readings to begin, and the parliament still waited for the government to submit the Fiscal Compact.

• Luxembourg: Submitted the treaty for parliamentary ratification on 10 July 2012 (draft law 6449), with the "Finance and Budget" committee being appointed on 4 October 2012 to begin preparations for the parliamentary debate and readings. Legal opinion of Council of State about the needed ratification procedure is currently awaited. Subsequently the committee shall also publish their report on the law before the first reading will be scheduled for the parliament.

• Malta: Treaty presented to the House of Representatives on 5 March 2012 as "Motion 294". The Maltese government had a preliminary opinion back in February 2012 that it was best to ratify the treaty through an issued order by the Prime Minister under guidance of the "European Act", which normally is used for a fast ratification of amendments to existing EU treaties. However, half a year later the Maltese government reconsidered their opinion, and decided for the ratification bill instead to follow the normal process for approval by the parliament. On 10 December, the government lost a parliamentary vote for their 2013 budget, where the proposed lowering of the budget deficit and a debt level decrease was rejected. Due to the lost budget vote, a caretaker government will rule until the parliament gets dissolved on 7 January, and it has been decided to hold a premature legislative election on 9 March 2013. Meanwhile, the parliament is restricted not to pass any new laws, meaning that the ratification of the Fiscal Compact will be delayed until after the election. The government plan -after having ratified the treaty- also to entrench the "golden rule" on balanced budgets into the Constitution, by passing an amendment with a two-thirds majority.

• Netherlands: The approval act was submitted to parliament in July 2012, but the parliamentary evaluation was delayed until after the general election at 12 September 2012. Ratification of the Fiscal Compact was supported by five parties: VVD, CDA, D66, CU and GL (representing 75 seats after the election). The Party for Freedom (PVV) and the Socialist Party (SP), who won a combined 30 seats, advocated for the need to schedule a national referendum on the Fiscal Compact. The party PvdA (representing 38 seats after the election), had indicated ahead of the election it would only support ratification provided the European Commission first granted the Netherlands a two-year exemption for compliance with the "budget deficit" criteria due to the existence of extraordinary economic circumstances. As a total of 76 seats were needed to ratify the fiscal compact, the five parties fully supporting it had to reach a deal with either PvdA or one of the three other undecided parties: SGP, PvdD and 50+ (representing 7 seats after the election). After the election, VVD and PvdA started negotiations to form a new two-party government. The Finance Committee was already on 13 September appointed to prepare the ratification bill for the parliament. On 27 September the Finance Committee published a preliminary report on the ratification bill, which is normally followed by a formal reaction of the Government. The report revealed PvdA and SGP were now also ready to support ratification, leaving only SP and PVV as opponents, and with no clear opinion stated yet by the two minor parties PvdD and 50+. Parliamentary reading had as of 14 December 2012 not yet been scheduled for the House of representatives.

• Slovakia: The Prime Minister has committed the government to complete the ratification of the treaty in autumn 2012. Treaty was submitted to the National Council on 10 October 2012 and approved on 18 December 2012. For ratification to be completed, it now awaits a presidential assent and deposit.

Constitutional challenges

• France: On 9 August the French constitutional court ruled that a constitutional amendment was not required to ratify the treaty, meaning that the French parliament could approve it with a simple majority.

• Germany: Ratification of the Fiscal Compact was stalled pending a decision of its constitutional court on the consistency of the Fiscal Compact with the German constitution. However, the court rejected all applications for injunctions to halt ratification of the treaty on 12 September 2012, allowing the ratification to be completed.

Non-eurozone signatories

Signatory	Conclusion date	Institution	Majority needed			AB	Deposited	Ref.
Bulgaria		National Assembly	T.B.D.
		Presidential Assent	-
Denmark	31 May 2012	Folketing	50%	80	27	0	19 July 2012
	18 June 2012	Royal Assent	-	Granted
Hungary		National Assembly	T.B.D.
		Presidential Assent	-
Latvia	31 May 2012	Parliament	66.7%	67 (69%)	29 (30%)	1 (1%)	22 June 2012
	13 June 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Lithuania	28 June 2012	Seimas	50% (and min.57 yes votes)	80	11	21	6 September 2012
	4 July 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Poland		Senate	50%
		Sejm	50%
		Presidential Assent	-
Romania	21 May 2012	Senate	50%	89	1	0	6 November 2012
	8 May 2012	House of Representatives	50%	237	0	2
	13 June 2012	Presidential Assent	-	Granted
Sweden		Riksdagen	50%

Notes

1. ^ Declared their intent to be bound by the treaty prior to adopting the euro as their currency.
2. Latvia targets to adopt the euro and be fully bound by the treaty on 1 January 2014.
3. A vote with 2/3 constitutional majority of present MPs was needed, as the treaty delegated a part of the national competencies to International institutions.
4. ^ As none of the Fiscal Compact provisions result in transfer of state authority competence to international organizations (EU) or international institutions (EU institutions), while the implementation into national law is possible without changing the Polish constitution, the ratification will only requirer a passing by simple majority in both chambers of the parliament.
5. ^ The constitution requires all EU treaties to be passed with a two-thirds absolute majority in a joint session by the Senate and House of Representatives. As the Fiscal Compact was an intergovernmental treaty without provisions requirering a change of the constitution, it was however sufficient to ratify the treaty by votes with simple majority, in both chambers.

Ratification process

The list below has summarized the current status and development of the ratification process. Red marked countries have still not submitted the treaty. Yellow marked have started the parliamentary ratification. Blue marked have completed all political stages of the ratification (incl. a royal/presidential assent), and finally the green marked have completed the ratification process with a deposit of the ratification instruments:

• Bulgaria: Treaty was not submitted to parliament, as of 19 December 2012. Ratification schedule unknown.

• Hungary: Treaty will not be submitted to the parliament in 2012. Ratification schedule unknown.

• Poland: 20 MPs submitted a proposal on 31 January 2012 calling on the parliament to schedule a referendum on the ratification of the Fiscal Compact. This proposal was referred to the Financial Committee and has not yet been debated or voted on by the parliament. The government prefers not to schedule any referendums, and aims to pass a Fiscal Compact ratification bill in the parliament by a simple majority, instead of the constitutional 2/3 majority. In May 2012, the Polish Ministry of Finance announced they expected to submit a draft law for integration of the "golden budget rule" into their national legislation in the third quarter of 2012. Poland already in 2009 introduced national leglislation (the "Public Finance Act"), putting a 55% cap for the deb-to-GDP ratio - with exceeding values automatically to be counter-measured by VAT increases; and dictating that for as long as the country is involved in ongoing EDP's the parliament will be prohibited to pass laws that will either cause a "lower revenue" or "higher expences" for the government. This law however needs to be amended, in order also to fully comply with the new Fiscal Compact rule about structural deficits. On 20 November, the government presented a draft law proposal for ratification of the Fiscal Compact, which they were expected soon to submit for the parliament's approval. Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Finance, Maciej Grabowski, revealed during a meeting in the "Affairs Committee of the European Union", that the government has decided not to attach a declaration ordering "immediate appliance of article 3+4", meaning the ratified treaty provisions outlining the "fiscal requirements" wont apply for Poland before it joins the eurozone. On 5 December 2012, the bill to ratify the Fiscal Compact was submitted to the parliament with an attached legal evaluation outlining that ratification could happen subject to the approval in both chambers by simple majority.

• Sweden: The first version of a draft law for ratification of the treaty (Ds 2012:30), was submitted by the government to a public hearing on 13 July 2012. The public hearing ran until 1 October, and one of the most important hearing replies from the independent Swedish Fiscal Policy Council presented a recommendation to ratify. All hearing replies were published in a separate report, with the major views to be considered and answered in the government's final version of the draft law. On 22 November 2012, the Finance Committee submitted the government's final version of the draft law, with a recommendation for the Swedish Parliament to ratify the treaty, but decided not to attach a declaration to make the treaty requirements legally binding with immediate effect. This will instead only happen, if the Swedish people in a future referendum first decides that the country shall adopt the euro. In that case a further revision of the current Swedish "fiscal responsibility" law will also be needed, as it -although complying with most of the treaty requirements- also differed on some of them. The parliament was granted a deadline for submitting counter proposals (motions) for the draft law on 7 December. The next step in the process, the Finance Committee will prepare a final committee report to be published 29 January 2013, followed by a two-week deadline for the parliament to submit amendments, and then the committee wil print a final version of the draft law on 26 February. As the last step in the process, the Swedish parliament has been scheduled to perform a final approval vote on 6 March 2013.

Non-signatories

Czech Republic

Although the Czech Republic did not sign the treaty, it may do so at a later stage, as accession is open by any EU member state. Czech prime minister Petr Nečas has stated that his country may join in the future, but that the current government sees no point in joiningas long as the Czech Republic is not a member of the eurozone or the acceding non-euro member states to the treaty aren't be rewarded with observatory status at all Eurogroup and Euro-summit meetings. Bohuslav Sobotka, the leader of the opposition Czech Social Democratic Party which was leading in the polls by October 2012 and could take power after the next elections in May 2014, has stated that his government would consider joining the Fiscal Compact straight away - without requiring anything in return.

Fiscal compliance

The compliance of the governments financial budget with the strict criteria defined by the Fiscal Compact, has been summarized in the table below for each of the EU member states. The table figures all originate from the economic forecast published by the European Commission in November 2012, and reflect how the figures are forecasted to be if no additional fiscal austerity will be implemented by the government's financial budget law for 2013.

All EU member states are obliged to correct any Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) issues as regulated and defined by the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), while ratifiers of the Fiscal Compact have committed to comply with this treaty's even stricter criteria. In both cases, the European Commission will approve a recovery plan for each country with an excessive deficit, setting a deadline for the latest year to fix the issue. Those deadlines are listed for each country by the last column of the table.

The new strict debt and deficit criteria definded by the Fiscal Compact, will in principle be strived for already from the moment the ratified treaty enters into force. As the corrective mechanism shall only be implemented one year later in each country's national legislation, it will however only be guaranteed/ensured starting from fiscal year 2014. Moreover it is accepted for countries with existing EDPs under the previous SGP, to only start complying with the Fiscal Compact deficit criteria in the year after they have successfully abrogated their EDP.

Green lines in the table reflect a full compliance to the Fiscal Compact in 2013, yellow lines a compliance only to the Stability and Growth Pact, while the red lines do not yet fully comply.

Did not sign the Fiscal Compact. 00000 EU 'balance of payments' programme. 00000 ESM/EFSM/EFSF programme.
Ratified the Fiscal Compact. 00000

The deadline for an EDP adjustment is only considered as being met (with the EDP to be abrogated), if the country succeeds to deliver a national account for the specified year AND some forecasted budget figures for the following two years, all being in full compliance with the SGP's deficit criteria and the transitional more lax EDP criteria for the debt-to-GDP level, requiring it should only have a "declining trend". During the first 3 years following an abrogated EDP, the country will moreover continue to be dispensated from the requirement of delivering a yearly debt-to-GDP level decline at minimum 5% of the benchmark value in excess of the 60% limit, and will instead only be required to have a "sufficient progress towards compliance with the debt reduction benchmark" - which as a minimum will be equal to a "declining trend". As part of the increased surveillance effort introduced by the Sixpack, all EDP's will be evaluated three times per year, which is scheduled to happen shortly after the publication of the economic outlook reports in February, May and November. Member states involved in bailout programs will be evaluated even more frequently and more in depth, through the so-called "Programme Reviews". In example, the Commission recommended in November for the Maltese EDP to be abrogated and the Greek EDP to be extended from 2014 until 2016, and ultimately this was approved per 4 December 2012 by the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers (ECOFIN).

When combining all info above, it can already now be concluded that Malta and Germany will be the first two countries being required to comply with the special "debt-brake rule": To achieve a three-year average debt reduction equal to minimum 5% per year of the excess-limit value. The Commission's Economic Forecast report scheduled for publication in November 2015, will be the first material used to check if Malta and Germany indeed comply with the rule, where the "debt reduction" will be calculated as the average of the expected Debt-to-GDP ratio reduction in respectively 2015+2016+2017. According to the latest forecast, the average Debt-to-GDP ratio reduction required for those three years will be: minimum 0.92% pr year for Germany and minimum 0.64% pr year for Malta.

See also

• Euro Plus Pact
• European Stability Mechanism
• Fiscal policies in the Eurozone
• Enhanced co-operation
• Fiscal federalism
• Sixpack (EU)
• List of acronyms: European sovereign-debt crisis

References

1. ^ "EU summit: All but two leaders sign fiscal treaty". BBC News. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
2. Nicholas Watt (31 January 2012). "Lib Dems praise David Cameron for EU U-turn". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
3. "The fiscal compact ready to be signed". European Commission. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 5 February 201. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
4. "Referendum to be held on Fiscal Treaty". RTÉ News. 28 February 2012.
5. ^ "Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG)" (PDF). European Council. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
6. "Fiscal compact enters into force 21/12/2012 (Press: 551, Nr: 18019/12)" (PDF). European Council. 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
7. ^ "Summary of the Fiscal Stability Treaty". Ireland: Citizens Information Board. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
8. Jean-Claude Trichet (23 October 2007). "Building Europe in a globalised world". European Central Bank.
9. "Soft centre". Economist. 11 June 2009.
10. Failure is not an option when it comes to Greece, retrieved 24 February 2010
11. Hamilton, Scott (12 May 2010). "King Says Crisis Shows It's `Very Clear' That Euro Area Needs Fiscal Union". Bloomberg. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
12. Münchau, Wolfgang (14 March 2010). "Shrink the eurozone, or create a fiscal union" (fee required). The Financial Times. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
13. Schäfer, Daniel; Hall, Ben (16 May 2010). "Berlin calls for eurozone budget laws". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
14. "Trichet opposes deal on EU budget rules". Ft.com. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
15. "France and Germany propose EU 'competitiveness pact'". Bbc.co.uk. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
16. "EU needs 'competitiveness pact': Zapatero". Expatica.com. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
17. Rick Noack (updated 9:02 AM EST, Fri December 2, 2011). "Merkel seeks urgent action on debt crisis". CNN. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
18. Helen Pidd (Friday 2 December 2011 07.05 EST). "Angela Merkel vows to create 'fiscal union' across eurozone". London: The Guardian. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
19. Stephen Castle (November 30, 2011). "European Finance Ministers Look to Strengthen E.U. Rules". New York Times.
20. Mario Draghi (1 December 2011). "Hearing before the Plenary of the European Parliament on the occasion of the adoption of the Resolution on the ECB's 2010 Annual Report". European Central Bank.
21. "Council reaches agreement on measures to strengthen economic governance" (PDF). Retrieved 15 April 2011.
22. Jan Strupczewski (15 March 2011). "EU finmins adopt tougher rules against debt, imbalance". Uk.finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
23. ^ Pidd, Helen (2 December 2011). "Angela Merkel vows to create 'fiscal union' across eurozone". London: Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
24. ^ Fletcher, Nick (9 December 2011). "European leaders resume Brussels summit talks: live coverage". London: Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
25. Template:Fr icon M Nicolas Firzli (Jan. 2010), Orthodoxie financière et régulation bancaire: les leçons du Glass-Steagall Act (Bank Regulation and Financial Orthodoxy: the Lessons from the Glass-Steagall Act) (PDF), retrieved 2010-01-08{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link).
26. M. Nicolas J. Firzli, "Greece and the EU Debt Crisis" The Vienna Review, March 2010
27. Template:En icon"see Ionescu Romeo, "Romania and Greece: Together or Alone", AJBM Vol. 4(19), p. 4197, December, 2010 [Quoting Q1 2010 article (in French) by M. Nicolas J. Firzli in Revue Analyse Financière]" (PDF). Retrieved 29 March 2011.
28. Baker, Luke (9 December 2011). "WRAPUP 5-Europe moves ahead with fiscal union, UK isolated". Reuters. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
29. "European Council Press releases". European Council. 9 December 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
30. Faiola, Anthony; Birnbaum, Michael (9 December 2011). "23 European Union leaders agree to fiscal curbs, but Britain blocks broad deal". Washington Post. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
31. ^ Wearden, Graeme; Fletcher, Nick (31 January 2012). "Eurozone crisis live: Greece back in spotlight after EU summit". London: Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
32. ^ "Czechs join UK in rejecting EU fiscal pact". 31 January 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
33. "Factbox - Main points of the EU fiscal compact". Reuters. 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
34. "Fiscal treaty referendum to be held 31 May". RTÉ News. 27 March 2012.
35. ^ "The Fiscal Stability Treaty: what happens next?". RTE. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
36. "Communication from the Commission: Common principles for national fiscal correction mechanisms (COM/2012/0342 final)" (PDF). EUR-Lex (European Commission). 20 June 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
37. ^ "Ireland sets May 31 date for EU treaty referendum". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
38. ^ "Fiscal Treaty Referendum". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
39. ^ "Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union". consilium.europa.eu. Council of the European Union. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
40. ^ "Table on the ratification process of amendment of art. 136 TFEU, ESM Treaty and Fiscal Compact" (PDF). European Parliament. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
41. ^ "Ratification requirements and present situation in the member states: Article 136 TFEU, ESM, Fiscal Stability Treaty (Nov.2012)" (PDF). European Parliament (Policy Department). 22 November 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |url(old)= ignored (help)
42. http://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/PR/JAHR_2012/PK0587/index.shtml ESM und Fiskalpakt nehmen Hürden im Nationalrat
43. PK-Nr. 600/2012
44. Bundespräsident.at : Bundespräsident Heinz Fischer unterzeichnet Fiskalpakt und ESM-Vertrag
45. http://www.wetsmatiging.be/e-regelgevingsagenda/titel-iv-bb-078
46. Template:Gr icon"Issue No. 4157 App. 7 Part I (Issue date 29 June 2012, Page No. 81)". Cyprus Government Gazette. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
47. "Voting: Wednesday 17th October 2012 at 14:26" (in Estonian). Riigikogu Press Service. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
48. "Majandus- ja rahaliidu stabiilsuse, koordineerimise ja juhtimise lepingu ratifitseerimise seadus 249 SE" (in Estonian). Riigikogu press service. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
49. "Government proposal to Parliament: HE 155/2012vp" (in Finnish). Eduskunta. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
50. "Voting nr.6: The second reading of HE 155/2012vp - VaVM 38/2012vp" (in Finish). Eduskunta. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
51. ^ "French court rules no constitutional change for EU pact". EUbusiness. 2012-08-09. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
52. "Poll #3 - 11 October 2012 meeting" (in French). French Senate. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
53. http://www.senat.fr/cra/s20121011/s20121011_mono.html
54. "Analyse du scrutin sur l'ensemble du projet de loi autorisant la ratification du traité sur la stabilité, la coordination et la gouvernance au sein de l'Union économique et monétaire (1re lecture)". assemblee-nationale.fr. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
55. "Legislative process for law No.2012-1171 of 22 October 2012". Senate of France. 23 October 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
56. "German parliament approves euro crisis-fighting tools". StarAfrica.com. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
57. "Breite Mehrheit für Fiskalpakt und Rettungsschirm" (in German). Deutscher Bundestag. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
58. "Gauck unterzeichnet ESM-Gesetz und Fiskalpakt" (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
59. "Plenary Session 28/03/2012 in the Greek Parliament" (PDF) (in Greek). Hellenic Parliament. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
60. "Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union) Bill 2012: Dáil Éireann Committee Stage and Remaining Stages". Oireachtas. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
61. "Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union) Bill 2012: Seanad Éireann Committee Stage and Remaining Stages". Oireachtas. 17 May 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
62. ^ "Legislation Signed by President Higgins". Official website. Office of the President. 27 June 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
63. "Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution -TSCG in the EMU- Bill 2012 (parliamentary status)". Oireachtas. 27 June 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
64. "Dáil Éireann Debate: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012 (Report Stage)". Oireachtas. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
65. "Seanad Debate: Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012 (Committee and Remaining Stages)". Oireachtas. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
66. "Fiscal Responsibility Bill 2012 (parliamentary status)". Oireachtas. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
67. "Italian Senate approves EU budget pact". Agence France-Presse. 12 July 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
68. Jul 2012/libera-ratifica-revisione-trattato-110709.shtml Via libera a Fiscal compact e al meccanismo di stabilità a tutela dell'euro (Esm) - Il Sole 24 ORE
69. Settimana degli atti firmati
70. "Portugal first to approve EU fiscal pact". BBC. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
71. "Portugal parlt passes EU fiscal pact by huge majority". Reuters. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
72. Status website for the Portuguese ratification
73. "Approved Diploma: Resolution of AR 84/2012 (Approving the Treaty on Stability Coordination and Governance in Economic and Monetary Union)" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Assembleia da República. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
74. ^ "The National Council of the Slovak Republic - voting members: Proposal to a vote of approval from the National Council of the Slovak Republic to the Treaty on stability" (in Slovakian). Narodna Rada (Slovenskej Republiky. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
75. http://www.prezident.sk/?spravy-tlacoveho-oddelenia&stranka=1
76. Agency France-Presse (19 April 2012). "Slovenia ratifies EU budget treaty". MSN Business. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
77. Template:Sl icon"ZADEVA: Besedila zakonov - razglasitev" (PDF) (in Slovenian). National Assembly (Slovenia). 30 April 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
78. "Final vote number: 1030, 18-July-2012" (in Spanish). Spanish Senate. 18 July 2012. {{cite web}}: Text "30 September 2012" ignored (help)
79. "DS. Pleno y Diputación Permanente Congreso, 43 pág: 4 Fecha:21-JUN-2012. Aprobación en lectura única. Votación de conjunto" (in Spanish). Congreso de Los Diputados. 21 June 2012. {{cite web}}: Text "30 September 2012" ignored (help)
80. Ley Orgánica 3/2012, de 25 de julio
81. "Ratification requirements and present situation in the member states: Article 136 TFEU, ESM, Fiscal Stability Treaty (May 2012)" (PDF). European Parliament (Policy Department). 31 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
82. ^ http://www.lachambre.be/kvvcr/showpage.cfm?section=flwb&language=fr&rightmenu=right&cfm=/site/wwwcfm/flwb/flwbn.cfm?legislat=53&dossierID=2105&inst=K
83. ^ "Proposal for resolution on the organization of a referendum on the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the economic and monetary union" (in French). Belgian Senate. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
84. "Traité sur la stabilité, la coordination et la gouvernance au sein de l'Union économique et monétaitre" (in French). PressCenter.org by residence palace. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
85. André Flahaut (21 July 2012). "Speech end of the parliamentary session" (in French). BlogFlahout.com. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
86. "Dinsdag 9 oktober 2012: Opening van het Parlementair jaar" (in Dutch). 9 October 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
87. http://www.lachambre.be/kvvcr/showpage.cfm?section=/flwb&language=fr&rightmenu=right&cfm=ListFromTo.cfm?legislat=53&from=2500&to=2600
88. http://www.senate.be/www/?LANG=nl&MIval=%2FActualiteit%2FNieuwDosIngediend.html&MAAND=3&DAG=1&JAAR=2012
89. "Rôle des affaires: (6449) Projet de loi portant approbation du traité sur la stabilité, la coordination et la gouvernance au sein de l'Union économique et monétaire" (in French). Chamber of Deputies. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
90. "Motion No.294 - Resolution on the Ratification of the Stability Treaty". Parlament Ta' Malta. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
91. "EU Fiscal Compact: government wants to bypass parliament". Malta Star. 7 February 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
92. "Agenda Details for Sitting 504 (3 October 2012)". publisher=Parlament Ta' Malta. 28 september 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Missing pipe in: |publisher= (help)
93. "Budget rejected as Debono votes with the Opposition". Times of Malta. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
94. "Economic projections: GDP at 1.6%, deficit at 1.7%". Times of Malta. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
95. "General election on March 9; "Debono is irrelevant" - Gonzi". Times of Malta. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
96. "Cohabitation among 15 Bills put on hold". Times of Malta. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
97. "Government wants 'golden rule' entrenched in the Constitution". TimesOfMalta. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
98. "Dossier 33319". Government of the Netherlands (in Dutch). Retrieved 18 August 2012.
99. "House of Representatives in recess". The Dutch House of Representatives. July 5, 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
100. "Dutch elections 2012 – where are we heading?" (PDF). Special report -economic research (no.105). Natixis. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
101. "Dutch Socialists want referendum on EU fiscal compact". Reuters. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
102. "Dutch government bond update: Political uncertainty to weigh on DSLs" (PDF). HSBC Global Research. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
103. "Rutte en Samsom weer naar Kamp" (in Dutch). NOS. 16 September 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
104. "Lijst van ingekomen stukken, met de door de Voorzitter ter zake gedane voorstellen" (in Dutch). Government of the Netherlands. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
105. "FAQ". Christenunie. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
106. "Meeting Year 2012-2013: Papers 33319 No.5" (in Dutch). Government of the Netherlands. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
107. "Officiële bekendmakingen: Agenda Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (opgesteld 14 December 2012)" (in Dutch). Overheid.nl. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
108. "Officiële bekendmakingen: Agenda Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (opgesteld 14 December 2012)" (PDF) (in Dutch). Overheid.nl. 14 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
109. "Statement by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affaires of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajčák: Europe and the reshaped global order" (PDF). 2 September 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
110. "Parliamentary printing 257" (in Slovakian). Narodna Rada (The National Council). 10 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
111. Peel, Quentin (12 September 2012). "German court backs ESM bailout fund". Financial Times. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
112. "B 70 Forslag til folketingsbeslutning om Danmarks ratifikation af traktaten af 2. marts 2012 om stabilitet, samordning og styring i Den Økonomiske og Monetære Union (finanspagten)". Folketinget.
113. "Statsråd på Christiansborg Slot, kl. 8.00, 18. juni 2012" (in Danish). Kongehuset. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
114. "Latvia on track to join euro in 2014, says PM". EU Observer. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
115. "Latvia on Road to Adopt Euro in 2014". Sofia News Agency. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
116. ^ "Saeima ratificē ES fiskālās disciplīnas līgumu". Latvijay Republikas Saeima (in Latvian). 31 May 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
117. "EU fiscal pact nears approval". The Baltic Times. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
118. "Bill status for The Treaty on stability, coordination and management of economic and monetary union (243/Lp11)". Latvijay Republikas Saeima (in Latvian). 13 June 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
119. "Par Līgumu par stabilitāti, koordināciju un pārvaldību ekonomiskajā un monetārajā savienībā (243/Lp11)" (PDF). Latvijay Republikas Saeima (in Latvian). 13 June 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
120. "Lithuanian parliament ratifies EU's key fiscal pact". The financial. 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2012-09-28.
121. "Valstybės Žinios, 2012.07.04, Nr.: 78, Publ. Nr.: 4037". LITLEX. 4 July 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
122. ^ "Justification for: The government bill on the ratification of the Treaty on stability (no.961)" (Docx). Sejm. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
123. Constitution of Romania
124. "Proces legislativ la Senat: PL L243/2012". Senatul României (in Romanian). 21 May 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
125. "PL-x nr. 39/2012 Proiect de Lege pentru ratificarea Tratatului privind stabilitatea, coordonarea și guvernanța în cadrul Uniunii Economice și Monetare (...)". Camera Deputaţilor. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
126. http://www.studiijuridice.ro/resurse_juridice/monitorul_oficial/monitorul-oficial-2012/116593-monitorul-oficial-nr-410-din-20-iunie-2012.html
127. http://www.amosnews.ro/decret-semnat-de-catre-presedintele-romaniei-traian-basescu-2012-06-13
128. http://parliament.bg/bg/bills
129. "The legislative program of the Government for the national parliament in the 2012 autumn session" (PDF) (in Hungarian). Retrieved 3 November 2012.
130. http://www.mkogy.hu/aktual/aktual.htm
131. "Parliamentary draft resolution on the resignation of the Polish Republic of the Polish zloty and euro adoption and participation in the so-called "fiscal Pact" (no.185)" (in Polish). Sejm. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
132. "Fiscal Pact: This parliament will decide on the procedures for ratification" (in Polish). Money.pl. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
133. "Ministry of Finance: starting a new expenditure rule will be ready in the third quarter" (in Polish). Forsal.pl. 19 May 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
134. "A bill to amend the Public Finance Act and the Act on tax on goods and services, submitted by the Minister of Finance" (in Polish). Prime Minister's Office. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
135. "Submitted a proposal for ratification by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The government passed a resolution and adopted a draft law on the matter" (in Polish). Prime Minister's Office. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
136. "Record of the meeting of the Affairs Committee of the European Union (no.94)" (in Polish). Sejm. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
137. "The legislative process: The government bill on the ratification of the Treaty on stability (print No. 961)" (in Polish). Sejm. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
138. "Fördraget om stabilitet, samordning och styrning inom ekonomiska och monetära unionen (Ds 2012:30)" (in Swedish). Regeringskansliet: Finansdepartementet (Regeringen.se). 13 July 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
139. "Pressmeddelande Finansdepartementet: Promemoria om godkännande av finanspakt" (in Swedish). Regeringskansliet: Finansdepartementet (Regeringen.se). 13 July 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
140. "Yttrande om Ds 2012:30, Fördraget om stabilitet, samordning och styrning inom ekonomiska och monetära unionen, den s.k. Finanspakten" (PDF) (in Swedish). Swedish Fiscal Policy Council. 1 October 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
141. "Fördraget om stabilitet, samordning och styrning inom ekonomiska och monetära unionen (Prop. 2012/13:39)" (in Swedish). Regeringskansliet. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
142. "Regeringens proposition 2012/13:39" (in Swedish). Sveriges Riksdag. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
143. "Finansutskottet Betänkande 2012/13:FiU24 (Fördrag om stabilitet, samordning och styrning inom ekonomiska och monetära unionen)" (in Swedish). Sveriges Riksdag. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
144. "The main arguments of Prime Minister Petr Nečas regarding why the Czech Republic has not committed to ratification of the fiscal compact". Government of the Czech Republic. 6 February 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
145. Lopatka, Jan; Muller, Robert (2012-10-22). "Czech leftists see chance to take power, eye tax hikes". Reuters. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
146. ^ "European economic forecast - autumn 2012" (PDF). European Commission. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
147. ^ "Excessive deficit procedure". European Commission. 8 October 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
148. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ecofin/134028.pdf
149. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ecofin/134024.pdf
150. "Balance-of-Payments assistance (BoP)". European Commission. 27 January 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
151. "European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM)". European Commission. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
152. "Spanish banks to get up to 100bn euros in rescue loans". BBC News. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
153. "Referendum 2012: Fiscal Treaty Guide". RTE News. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
154. "Work programme for the Eurogroup for the first half of 2013" (PDF). Eurogroup. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
155. "Preparation of Economic and Finance Ministers Council, Brussels, 4 December 2012 (MEMO/12/935)". European Commission (Europa). 3 December 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.

External links

• Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the economic and monetary union (treaty; signed on 2 March 2012)
• Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the economic and monetary union (final draft; 31 January 2012)
• International Agreement on a Reinforced Economic Union (first draft of treaty, 16 December 2011)
• Euro Area Statement (treaty outline, 9 December 2011)

• Treaties concluded in 2012
• Treaties not entered into force
• Economic integration
• Eurozone fiscal matters
• Policy and political reactions to the European sovereign-debt crisis
• Fiscal federalism
• 2011 in the European Union
• 2012 in the European Union