Debt, Sustainability and European Democratic Accountability

The high levels of public debt are rekindling concerns about the unsustainability of public finances in some EU member states. The proposals for reforming the European budgetary framework take this dimension into account, but they struggle to link the discourse on the rules, even if modified or improved, with their European democratic legitimacy. The latter deserves to be discussed in order to ensure better appropriation of European rules by the member states.