Beware the EU dog that doesn’t bark

In the wake of non-enforcement of fines for failing to hit fiscal deficit targets Daniel Gros discovers that EU member states prioritise domestic political imperatives over common rules

Sometimes the most important thing that happens is what doesn’t happen — or, to paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, it’s the dog that doesn’t bark in the night. The lack of response to the European Commission’s non-enforcement in Spain and Portugal of the terms of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is one of those times.

According to SGP rules, the Commission should have proposed a fine to be levied on Spain and Portugal for overshooting their fiscal deficit targets by a wide margin. The fine would have been largely symbolic, but the Commission seems to have decided that the symbolism wasn’t worth it.