Costa: ‘More room to maneuver for national housing policies’ — Idea of excluding them from the Stability Pact

Brussels – Changing course, once and for all, and tackling the housing emergency that has become an actual crisis, the EU intends to address this issue with a summit of heads of state and government, which, for the first time, will address the problem with the intention of taking concrete action. The issue is a national one, recalls the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, but “we want to create more room to maneuver for the states.” The leaders’ summit does not intend to produce results because it cannot, given the national nature of the issue, but, Costa anticipated at the special press conference convened on the eve of the summit, it is intended to “provide political guidance for the European Commission,” with a view to a European housing plan to be presented by the end of the year.

“We can intervene at the regulatory level” to provide national governments and local administrations with “more tools” to draw on voluntarily and according to different needs, Costa continues. The idea includes a reform of state aid, the possibility of targeted use of EU funds, similar to the use of cohesion funds for the defense industry.

https://www.eunews.it/en/2025/05/15/housing-crisis-15-european-mayors-call-on-brussels-for-300-billion-per-year-housing-fund/

Another idea under consideration is the decoupling of housing aid from the rules of the Stability Pact, put forward by the Economic and Social Committee (EESC). “We believe that public expenditure for housing support should be excluded from the debt rule, as was done for defense,” insists outgoing president Oliver Röpke. The Ecofin, where the ministers of economy and finance are generally very sensitive and reluctant, would have to give the green light to such a proposal. “It is a proposal, but a far-reaching one,” he claims, recalling “the millions of people” in need who would benefit from such an initiative. After all, “we are in an emergency,” recalls Seamus Boland, incoming president of the EESC, “and in an emergency there is a need for measures like this.”

In short, the demand to exclude spending on households and citizens from debt calculations is legitimate and well-founded, and leaders will also discuss this at Costa’s urging. Not least because “major investments are needed, both public and private,” emphasizes the president of the European Committee of the Regions (COR), Kata Tütto, according to whom action cannot be postponed. “We must make Europe strong from the inside,” she emphasized, calling for action, reform, and, indeed, investment. The summit of heads of state and government, therefore, presents itself with all the best intentions, at least on this point.