In the last three state elections in Germany, the extreme right got the largest number of votes in one state and the second largest in the other two. In the Austrian general elections they again got the most votes. All this came after the French extreme right won the most votes in the European Parliament elections and in those for the first round of the French Parliament.  

Their advance has been clear, strong and consistent. Up to now this has not  allowed the extreme right to govern in their own right, but the chances of their becoming part of a coalition are increasing in a number of countries. If the present tendency persists, the chances are increasing too that they can end up leading a coalition government. One could claim that this has already happened in Italy - but the Fratelli d'Italia of Giorgia Meloni are not totally comparable to the German AFD... although then, they seem to be good friends with Marine Le Pen and her party the RN in France.

The economic and social factors that have made this advance possible are well known. The traditional parties do not seem to be in  position to respond effectively to the changes that are going on.

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CUSTOMS

Four years after the Covid pandemic, the new customs it brought in its wake have persisted. Meetings for work, study or even between friends get done at a distance over the internet. Restaurant meals are bought as takeaways and delivered at homes by motorcycle. The frequency of hand washing has increased. The use of face masks when in a crowd or when they leave home is still the practice of some people. Firms and families stock a larger amount of products they need.

They are "new" customs that are leaving behind them an economic and social impact, that is not necessarily a positive one. However how is this effect going to be identified and measured? For instance, how true is it that the volume of traffic in the country as a whole has increased also as a result of the pandemic?

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INCREASES

There is no need to consult the pre-budget document  or the document that the government recently submitted to the European Commission known as the Medium Term Fiscal Structural Plan for the years 2025-2028. It is common knowledge that government expenditures have continued to grow fast. In and of itself, this is hardly extraordinary. What's important is to keep growth of expenditures under control. This should not be done simply to satisfy the rules of the EU's Stability and Growth Pact, but equally to ensure that expenditure growth does not  accellerate to the point where it spirals out of control.

Increases in expenditure have to be justified. In this perspective, one measure to keep in mind is whether increases are being mostly allocated to recurrent as opposed to capital outlays. It is a bit disquietig that in Malta (if I'm reading the available data correctly) expenditure growth is getting biased significantly towards recurrent, and less and less towards capital  spending. One could consider this indicator as much more important than the percentage level of GDP reached by the annual public deficit.