How) has EMU affected fiscal policy in Austria

Since Austria joined the euro area, national budgetary policy has been influenced by EU fiscal rules to a significant extent. Above all, EU fiscal targets were key drivers behind the major consolidation episodes: consolidations either aimed at bringing the headline deficit ratio below 3% of GDP or at moving the structural budget balance closer to the medium-term objective. At the same time, the structure of expenditure and revenue continues to be under full national responsibility. While the revenue structure remained relatively stable over the last 20 years, we observe relatively strong shifts in the expenditure structure towards social transfers in kind.