Sanctions have been highly uncertain, as EU Council members were supposed to fine each other via lengthy procedures involving discretionary steps that would lead to theoretically large, but actually unlikely, pecuniary sanctions. Reforms such as the interest bearing deposits and the European semester aim at tackling the first problem.
A greater automaticity in procedures, the reduction of EU funds and, possibly, the loss of voting rights would help in tackling the second problem. National fiscal rules and procedures can also help to pursue fiscal consolidation and anchor fiscal expectations. The 2009 reform of the German fiscal  4  BIS Review 144/2010  framework sets an important benchmark.