Children of the crisis:Fiscal councils in Portugal, Spain and Ireland

The adverse public finance implications of the global crisis spurred a wave of institutional reform in budgetary policy in the European Union. The Irish, Portuguese and Spanish independent fiscal watchdogs were created in circumstances in which the commitment of the national authorities to ensuring sustainability in public finances needed a dose of credibility. In this chapter, I study the strengths and the challenges of these ‘children of the crisis’. Instances of exemplary compliance with the international institutional benchmarks defined in the OECD (2014) principles are highlighted. I argue that improved communication and better access to information, including from the EU level, could enhance the effectiveness of the watchdogs in performing their oversight function. Staff recruitment and retention is not without problems either. Where applicable, the mandates could be independently reviewed to reflect changing fiscal challenges.