In Europe, new geopolitical ambitions and fiscal reform go hand in hand

On 23 December 2021, Emmanuel Macron and Mario Draghi published an open letter calling for a reform of European fiscal rules. This was welcome political weight on a sensitive issue, which was to be discussed by member states at the technical level this year. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February has transfixed the EU’s political agenda and rightly captured the media’s attention. It would then be tempting to put fiscal rules reform on the back burner. We think this would be a serious mistake.