Selling Restraint

This chapter examines the main aspects of austerity budgeting in each country and delves into the budget discourse offered at the height of austerity. Public budgets might be thought of as technocratic documents that set out planned revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year. But with fiscal policy connected to all aspects of government activity, budgets hold significant repercussions for a wide range of actors including the state, private enterprise and labour. Thus, the chapter examines themes such as: fiscal narratives and budget framing; characterizing the nation; justifying crisis management via austerity; priorities of crisis-era governance; rationalizing reforms beyond cuts; and European citizenship. Given that budgets focus the relationship between government and economy, their design and discourse implicates existing institutions, empowers (new or recently established) agencies, insulates or exposes particular segments of society, and insinuates degrees of blame and responsibility for both the good and bad times.