Excessive Deficits in EU: Council Identifies Major Budget Offenders

The European Council has identified Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia as having excessive budget deficits. Romania, already under scrutiny since 2020, remains non-compliant. This excessive deficit procedure aims to curb high government debt and enforce EU budgetary discipline.

Brussels [Belgium], July 29 (WAM/ANI): The European Council on Monday flagged Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia for excessive budget deficits. Romania, under a similar procedure since 2020, failed to take effective corrective action, keeping its procedure ongoing.

The excessive deficit procedure (EDP) is designed to ensure that EU member states either maintain or return to fiscal discipline in their budgets. This is crucial to keeping government debt low or reducing it to sustainable levels. According to EU Treaties, member states must avoid deficits exceeding 3% of GDP and debt over 60% of GDP.

When a member state runs an excessive deficit, the EDP aims to prompt correction through enhanced scrutiny and recommendations. Data for 2023 reveals that several states have breached the Treaty reference values: Italy (-7.4%), Hungary (-6.7%), Romania (-6.6%), France (-5.5%), Poland (-5.1%), Malta (-4.9%), Slovakia (-4.9%), and Belgium (-4.4%). (WAM/ANI)