6 Long-term fiscal sustainability Population ageing will have a significant impact on economic growth and lead to pressures to increase public spending. In order to gauge the magnitude of this challenge, the assessment of long-term sustainability of public finances has become part of the regular EU budgetary surveillance.
According to the Commission, in the absence of reform measures and budgetary consolidation, a considerable “sustainability gap” of about 3.5% of GDP, i.e., a gap between the structural budgetary position in 2005 and a sustainable fiscal position, emerges in both the EU and the euro area.