Should the Maastricht fiscal criteria be redefined?

The Statistical Office of the European Commission, Eurostat, at the beginning of February 2015, released for the first time data on contingent liabilities and non-performing loans of European Union (EU) member states. Contingent liabilities include guarantees, liabilities related to public-private partnerships and liabilities of public corporations that are controlled by the state, but excluded from the statistical coverage of general government. The scale of the contingent liabilities of member states reveals a completely new image of their indebtedness and exposure to fiscal risks, and also raises the issue of the need to redefine the Maastricht fiscal criteria. It is obvious that member states – under pressure from budgetary restrictions (in line with the Maastricht criteria) – are creating liabilities that certainly affect the growth of public debt. At the same time these liabilities were only until recently beyond the reach of Eurostat