Fiscal governance database

What information will you find here?

The 2006 Council decision recognised the key contribution of national fiscal governance, or national fiscal frameworks, to EU economic governance framework. The European Commission’s Fiscal Governance Database (FGD) was established as a result. It collects information on:

• National Fiscal Rules (NFRs),
• Medium-Term Budgetary Frameworks (MTBFs) and
• Independent Fiscal Institutions (IFIs).

These three elements are commonly recognised in the literature as the main building blocks of fiscal governance. Other elements such as Climate-related Fiscal Risk Assessments, Public Investment Management, Green Budgeting or Spending Reviews belong to fiscal governance but fall outside of the current scope of the database. 

For each element, the FGD collects both qualitative and quantitative information. The exercise is coordinated and processed by the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) and has benefitted from the contributions of the Alternates of the Economic and Financial Committee since 2015.

Annual Surveys

Qualitative information is collected through annual and comprehensive surveys filled in by ministries of finance and IFIs. 

Ministries of Finance report on: 

• Budget balance, expenditure, debt and/or revenue rules, covering social security, local, regional, central or general government, and
• The MTBF document established in national law. 

The IFI survey is completed by IFIs endowed with a formal mandate derived from EU legislation. 

Survey answers are publicly available since 2024 and can be found at the bottom of this page in the “questionnaires and answer” excel files. Qualitative and quantitative information is presented in one unique file for NFRs. 

Indices

Three indices are calculated based on the questionnaire answers (available at the bottom of this page):

1. The Fiscal Rules Strength Index (1990-2024), which assesses the strength of individual NFRs and NFRs aggregated at the country level based on their coverage, legal strength, monitoring and corrective procedures and flexibility,
2. The Medium-Term Budgetary Framework Index (2006-2024), which assesses the strength of national MTBFs based on their coverage, bindingness over the annual budget, involvement of key stakeholders and level of details,
3. The Scope Index of Fiscal Institutions (2015-2024), which calculates the scope of an IFI’s legal mandate and activities, ranging from monitoring fiscal rule compliance to producing macroeconomic and budgetary forecasts and assessing long term fiscal sustainability of fiscal policy. 

These indices provide citizens, researchers and policy makers with a measurement of the strengths and weaknesses of national fiscal governance. 

DG ECFIN discussion papers provide extensive analyses of the different fiscal governance elements, including estimates of fiscal sustainability impact, best practices or comparative analysis of practices among Member States. Links to relevant libraries are available at the bottom of this page.

Database

Numerical fiscal rules (NFR)

Medium-term budgetary frameworks (MTBF)

Independent Fiscal Institutions (IFI)