These aimed not only to ensure that public finances remain on a sustainable path, but also to create the buffers needed to allow budgets to fluctuate over the economic cycle and to enable member states to take countermeasures during economic crises without being forced to call for external aid to fend off looming overindebtedness.
3/9  BIS central bankers' speeches  These rules form the principle of national fiscal responsibility. This is the foundation of the Maastricht framework. Walter Eucken, a founder of the Freiburg school and pioneer of the social market economy, summed up this liability principle as follows: “Whoever reaps the benefits must also bear the liability."