The EU Commission on Wednesday announced that 12 Member States, including Greece, have submitted an official request to activate a national “escape clause” under the Stability and Growth Pact as part of the “ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030 package”, which was presented last month.
Beyond Greece, the other member-states are Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia. Germany is expected to allocate the most funds for increased defense contracts and spending.
The so-called “escape clause” would essentially exempt member-states from budgetary rules in order to increase defense spending.
According to an announcement on the Commission’s website, “…Additional requests are expected to be submitted at a later stage as several Member States have expressed their interest to take advantage of this clause. The activation of the national escape clause provides Member States with additional budgetary space to increase defense spending, while remaining within the EU fiscal rules, in line with the paper published by the Commission as part of the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030 package.”
The announcement also direct refers to the reasons behind the initiative, namely, “…Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its threat to European security constitute exceptional circumstances, placing significant pressure on Member States’ public finances due to the urgent need to build up their defense capabilities. In response, the EU has put forward an ambitious defense package, offering financial levers to boost investment in the Union’s defense sector, including via the national escape clause. The activation of the clause will give these Member States the possibility to deviate from their endorsed net expenditure paths or their corrective path under the Excessive Deficit Procedure. Such flexibility is foreseen in the event of exceptional circumstances beyond the Member State’s control, where these
have a significant impact on its public finances, as is currently the case.
The entire text is here:
12 Member States request activation of the national escape clause
