Christos Triantopoulos, Research Fellow, ΚΕΠΕ (Centre of Planning and Economic Research)
The strong relationship between the electoral cycle and the state of the public finances is one of Greece’s most characteristic elements which is also related to the obsolete development model followed up until the crisis. In particular, during the past decades when the country could easily finance the state’s deficit through the international markets, the electoral year-under the impact of additional relative factors (e.g. administrative inactivity, changes in the hierarchy of public administration, expectation for changes in policies and legislation, etc.)- was accompanied by fiscal distortion. As a result, since the access to the financial markets allowed the funding of the pre-election announced policies, the divergence between pre-election “speeches” and post-election “actions” was not significant, during the first years of the government.
However, the circumstances that prevailed for Greece in the international markets after the global financial crisis of 2007/2008 and the exclusion from the markets since 2010, combined (later) with the support mechanism framework of EU/ECB/IMF, created tight fiscal restrictions that enlarged the divergence between pre-election announcements and post-election actions in the field of economic policy. Consequently, this large divergence gives room for discussion on the need for the formation of an institutional platform, which would have the ability, upon request from interested parties, to assess, technically, credibly, impartially and independently the economic programs or the parties’ suggested policies before the elections. Such an institutional platform, according to international experience, could come under the fiscal council. Therefore, the present policy paper constitutes a first approach on the institutional preconditions and circumstances needed in order for the fiscal council to be able to develop an efficient-in terms of social credibility and acceptance- assessment platform of the parties’ economic programs during the pre-election period.