The Maastricht Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact were designed to impose effective limits on government borrowing by restricting sovereign debt to non-critical levels and avoiding lasting deficits. However, the public often have little awareness of these fiscal rules beyond the two threshold figures of 3% for the annual deficit and 60% for the debt level (both in relation to gross domestic product).
I would like to use this opportunity to provide you with a sense of our thinking on three important issues: 1. interchange fee regulation 2. dual-network debit cards and least-cost routing 3. ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) no-surcharge rules.