The Council of the European Union on Friday, July 26, launched the procedure for excessive budget deficits in seven countries of the bloc (Belgium, Italy, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, France) and continued it in relation to Romania. This was reported on the website of the EU Council, Liga.net reports.
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The Treaty on the European Union provides that member states must observe budget discipline and not allow the deficit to exceed 3% of GDP, and the public debt to exceed 60% of GDP. If a member of the bloc exceeds the deficit, it is subject to a special procedure that involves enhanced monitoring and recommendations to reduce expenditure and increase revenue.
In 2023, eight countries had a deficit that exceeded the base value of the treaty:
- Italy (-7.4%) Hungary (-6.7%) Romania (-6.6%) France (-5.5%) Poland (-5.1%) Malta (-4.9%) Slovakia (-4.9%) Belgium (-4.4%)
Romania has already been under the excessive deficit procedure since 2019.
The excessive deficit rule was not applied in 2020-2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Towards the end of the year, the European Commission will propose recommendations for each country to eliminate the excessive deficit, with specific quantitative and time parameters. The EU has recognized the budget deficit of eight countries as excessive. Among them are all of Ukraine's neighbors.
- Budget Europe
