EU Seeks One More Year of Fiscal Grace as  Risks Increase

Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.

EU governments are likely to get an additional year of fiscal grace as the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine trigger a surge in energy and food costs. The Commission will propose today an extension of the escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact until the end of 2023, a plan that has broad support among the bloc’s members. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party, is playing the nation’s traditional role of EU fiscal stickler and speaking out against the proposal. The “friendly hawk,” as Lindner once described himself, will bring his opposition to the EU finance ministers’ meeting today and tomorrow, though is unable to stop the rest of the bloc being let off the hook.