Zmiany w sektorze finansów publicznych w dobie kryzysu gospodarczego w Unii Europejskiej

The paper concentrates on changes in the public finance sector in recent years: a topic of great importance from the viewpoint of maintaining stability of finan‑ cial system and from both national and EU perspective. The effects of the current financial crisis have stressed the need for action to reduce the growing deficit and public debt. Debt crisis shows that it is necessary to conduct an effective fiscal con‑ solidation to put and maintain economies of many countries on a path of sustain‑ able growth. The paper begins with a brief presentation of theory. In the following part, the paper discusses structural and cyclical causes of the rising debt. Changes in the legal environment, including key issues, were also discussed. Fiscal rules, fiscal councils and the fiscal pact were therefore analyzed in detail. The authors furthermore pay attention to certain limitations and weaknesses of fiscal policy, stressing the necessity to look at the economy from a broader perspective and to use other tools and instruments of state policy. The study includes recent data on GDP, the budget deficit, public debt and expenditure and revenue in the EU.