Overall, the debate on reforming the Stability and Growth Pact has the air of reshaping the rules to fit current fiscal practice - instead of reshaping fiscal practice to fit the pre-agreed rules. Basically, the proposals now under discussion amount to substituting discretion for rules.
The implications of this paradigm shift must be borne in mind: heightened complexity, reduced transparency, and discarding the principle of equal treatment. Abandoning rules in favour of discretion would represent a major step backwards. EMU was once meant to be placed on a solid institutional foundation instilling credibility.