First, the sharp fall in crude oil prices since last summer has made the country’s fiscal position weaker, since oil still accounts for approximately one-third of budgeted public-sector revenue.
It is true that a closer coordination of fiscal and economic policies is envisaged by Articles 98, 99 and 104 of the EC Treaty, and by what is known as the Stability and Growth Pact (i.e. above all: decisions on common features of economic policy and mutual budget surveillance), but these coordination mechanisms still have to prove their worth in practice.