On 29 and 30 October 2024, the 23rd International Scientific Conference MIRDEC was held in Barcelona, Spain. Irena Szarowska presented her paper "The Impact of External Shocks on Fiscal Rule Compliance and Discipline in Old and New EU Member States" in the opening keynote session. The paper examines the impact of external shocks (the financial crisis, the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the energy and inflation crises) on fiscal rule compliance (debt, deficit, expenditure and structural balance rules) in 17 old and 10 new EU Member States and identifies the reasons for differences in fiscal discipline between the two groups and individual countries.