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CHAPTER1.PRACTICALDIMENSIONOFRESEARCHONPUBLICFINANCES
countrythatviolatedthebudgetdeficitcriterionafterthecreationoftheeuroarea
(1999)wasPortugal,inwhichthebudgetdeficitfor2001reached403%ofGDP
0After
atemporaryimprovementintheconditionofpublicfinancesin2002,inthefollow-
ingyears,maintainingthecountry’sbudgetdeficitatthelevelof3%ofGDPwasim-
possible0In2004–2005,Portugal’sbudgetdeficitexceeded6%ofGDP
0
1
Atthattime,
eventhepossibilityofimposingsanctionsonPortugal,inlinewiththeStabilityand
GrowthPact,wasconsidered,butovertimeitturnedoutthatinothercountriesthere
werealsodifficultiesindiscipliningpublicfinancesandkeepingthebudgetdeficitat
thereferencelevel0AmongsuchcountriestherewereaspowerfuleconomiesasItaly,
FranceandevenGermany,inwhichthedeficitexceeded3%ofGDPasearlyasin
2002,andin2003–2004itoscillatedaround4%ofGDP
0DuetothefactthatPor-
tugal,relativelysoon,wasjoinedbythecountriesthatconstitutetheeconomiccore
oftheEuropeanUnion(eurozone),imposingpenaltiesadoptedintheStabilityand
GrowthPactturnedouttobedifficulttopushthroughforpoliticalreasons0Then
institutionalgapsalsoemerged,beingevidentindisputesbetweenacountrythatvio-
latesfiscaldisciplineandtheauthoritiesoftheEuropeanUnion0Inaddition,unclear
divisionofcompetencesbetweentheEuropeanUnionbodiesinthefieldofpublic
financedisciplinebecameevident0Increasedbudgetdeficitsresultedinasetbackof
thefavourabletendencyinmanycountries,allowingforthereductionofpublicdebt
inrelationtoGDP
0When,aftertheadoptionoftheMaastrichtTreaty,countries
withahighpublicdebt-to-GDPratio(e0g0Belgium,Italy)begantodisciplinepublic
finances,whichwasreflectedindecliningpublicdebtinrelationtoGDP
,then,after
thecreationoftheeuroarea,insomecountries(Portugal,Germany,France),pub-
licdebtinrelationtoGDPbegantogrowagain0Therewerevariousreasonsbehind
it,amongwhichwastheenforcedcuttingdownonpublicexpenditureintheperiod
precedingtheEUauthorities’decisiononqualifyingagivencountrytotheeuroarea
(1997)0Somecountriespostponedpartsofpublicexpenditureuntiltheyjoinedthe
eurozone0AgoodexampleofthisisGermany,whichappliedaveryrestrictivefiscal
policy,andasaresult,reducedin1999thestatebudgetdeficitto107%ofGDP
0Butit
soonbecameevidentthatmaintainingsuchastrictfiscalpolicyinthefollowingyears
wasimpossible0Fiscaldifficultiesinthefirstyearsoftheeurozoneresultedfroman
economicdownturnbothinEuropeandtherestoftheworld0
Institutionalgapshaveturnedouttobeparticularlydangerousintheextraordi-
narycircumstancescausedbythefinancialcrisis0Theseproblems,whichnegatively
effectedtheprocessofEuropeanUnionintegration,wereaddressedinthereform
oftheStabilityandGrowthPactin2005aimedatstrengtheningsupervisionoverthe
budgetarysituationaswellasatreinforcingsupervisionandcoordinationofeconomic
1DataonthebalanceformationofthepublicfinancesectorandpublicdebtintheEuropeanUnion
countriesintheyears1995–2016canbefoundinTablesIandIIintheAnnex0
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