Aligning older regulations on EU economic governance with the 2024 reform

The European Parliament voted on three legislative acts that form a single package: they have the same rapporteurs, Markus Ferber (EPP) and Carla Tavares (S&D), as well as the same shadow rapporteurs. All three amend older regulations to bring them into line with the reform of the EU’s economic governance framework, which comes into force on 30 April 2024. The new fiscal rules do not introduce any new provisions – the aim is to harmonise and simplify the existing ones.

In a key vote (450 in favour, 135 against, 75 abstentions), Parliament approved a provisional agreement with the Council on amending two regulations on budgetary surveillance in the euro area – on its enforcement (No 1173/2011) and on draft budgetary plans (No 473/2013). Provisions rendered obsolete by the 2024 reform are being repealed, and sanctions are being aligned with the tiered system of the reformed Stability and Growth Pact. Instead of stability and convergence programmes, the texts will refer to medium-term fiscal and structural plans. The so-called economic partnership programmes and some of the non-value-added reporting obligations will also be abolished.

The second vote (458 in favour, 138 against, 61 abstentions) amends Regulation No 472/2013 on enhanced surveillance of euro area Member States experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties regarding financial stability. Enhanced surveillance will now be triggered automatically only when a country receives assistance conditional on new policy measures, regardless of who provides it. Post-programme surveillance will focus on repayment capacity and on reforms not covered by the national medium-term plan; its intensity will be scaled according to risk.

The third vote (462 in favour, 121 against, 75 abstentions) concerns the instrument through which the EU lends to non-euro area Member States facing balance of payments difficulties (Council Regulation No 332/2002). Parliament does not have codecision powers here; it merely gives its consent. Until now, every EU borrowing operation on the market has been linked to a specific disbursement. Under the new arrangements, the EU will issue bonds independently of such disbursements and hold the funds in a common liquidity fund so that it can make payments quickly, regardless of market conditions.

The pro-European majority voted unanimously on all three legislative acts: the EPP, S&D, Renew and Greens/EFA were in favour, with almost no votes against. However, 28 to 30 MEPs from the S&D abstained on each occasion; in the final vote, there were 95 in favour and 30 abstentions. We have no verified statement from the EPP, Renew or Greens/EFA regarding this vote; their position is therefore as reflected in the vote. Co-rapporteur Carla Tavares (S&D) stated on her group’s website on 5 October 2026: “Progressives are proving that social justice can go hand in hand with sound public finances.” According to her, the S&D insists that a credible fiscal approach places social and economic resilience at its heart.

Groups outside the pro-European majority were divided. The ECR supported all three acts by a majority of its votes (for : against 68 : 9, 64 : 13 and 60 : 14), whilst the PfE (7:65, 6:64, 7:65) and the ESN (0:23, 0:24, 0:24) voted against each one. The Left voted against the first two acts (0:24 and 1:22), whilst on the third, the majority of its MEPs abstained. The ECR’s votes did not decide the outcome: all three acts would have been passed even without them.