Some countries have considered or implemented higher taxes, higher utility bills, or lower social benefits in response to international pressures.
Multiple EU member states are in active fiscal consolidation in 2024-2026 — France's contentious 2026 austerity budget, Italy's spending review, Belgium and Hungary in the Excessive Deficit Procedure. Attard's framing matches the published record.
Multiple EU member states are in active fiscal consolidation in 2024-2026 — France's contentious 2026 austerity budget, Italy's spending review, Belgium and Hungary in the Excessive Deficit Procedure. Attard's framing matches the published record.
Multiple EU member states have moved on tax increases, utility-tariff hikes or social-benefit reforms since 2024. France's 2026 budget includes structural consolidation. Italy has produced multi-year spending reviews. Germany has navigated debt-brake constraints. The European Commission has reactivated the Excessive Deficit Procedure against Belgium, Hungary and several other member states across this period. Attard's claim is broad ('some countries') but well-supported. True.
Are other EU countries really hiking taxes and cutting benefits
Attard used the contrast in his Pieta speech: while Malta has held the line on subsidies and benefits, 'some countries' across Europe have done the opposite. Is that comparison fair?
What's actually been happening across the EU
Several EU governments have moved through fiscal consolidation packages in the 2024-2026 window. France entered a politically contentious 2026 budget with structural spending reductions and revenue-side adjustments. Italy has been running multi-year spending reviews. Germany has navigated debt-brake constraints into spending decisions. Belgium and Hungary are among several member states placed on Excessive Deficit Procedure pathways requiring corrective fiscal action.
On utility bills specifically, the EU energy-price cap framework expired in mid-2024, and several member states allowed wholesale-to-retail pass-through to resume — meaning households saw bills tick up where governments did not absorb the difference. On social benefits, country-specific recommendations from the Commission have repeatedly recommended better targeting of broad-based support, which in practice implies trims for some recipients.
Where the comparison gets nuanced
Whether 'austerity' is the right umbrella term is contested. Economists prefer 'fiscal consolidation' or 'structural adjustment' as more neutral terms. But the substantive pattern Attard described — countries raising taxes, raising bills, or trimming benefits in response to international pressures — is well-attested in the published record.
So is the claim accurate?
Yes. Attard's framing is conservative relative to what the EC's published country-specific recommendations and the IMF's Fiscal Monitor describe.
Verdict: True.