Press Release: Sustainability of public finances: a challenge for the future and a condition for sustained recovery

Fiscal policymaking in the EU has, over the last year, been urgently and successfully focused on pulling the economy out of recession. Discretionary measures and in-built fiscal stimuli have cushioned the downturn in economic activity and have been a factor in the recent improvement. However, this has also led to a deterioration in government accounts which, coming on top of the projected demographic developments as populations age, makes the long-term sustainability of public finances an acute challenge, said a Commission communication published on 14 October 2009 on the 'Long-term Sustainability of Public Finances for a Recovering Economy'. Governments need to keep supporting the economy and avoid choking off the emerging recovery. But now is the time to start mapping their consolidation strategies and assess how the crisis has affected their sustainability conditions.