On the new political economy of the Stability and Growth Pact

This journal has published in the 2003-5 period several contributions devoted to statistical analysis of the processes observable in the old and new EU member-states and assessment, based on that, of the sustainability of the Stability and Growth Pact, the chances of introducing the common currency in the new member-states, and the most expedient way of doing so. This article sets out to augment earlier analyses by looking at the solution now subject to professional and political debate: is the European version of a rule-abiding budget policy really just 'stupid', as Romano Prodi once said, or is it a frame with real economic content, so that observing it or even applying it more strictly than ever is a precondition for sustainable development in the new EU member-states, especially in the medium and long term?