Brussels, 03/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission acknowledges the existence of room for manoeuvre in the accounting treatment of national financing of certain public investment supported by Community funding within the preventive provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact.
“The Commission has explored further ways within the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact to accommodate non-recurrent public investment programmes with a proven impact on the sustainability of public finances made by the member states in the assessment of their Stability and Convergence Programmes”, said the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, at the European Parliament on Wednesday 3 July. “When assessing the national budgets for 2014 and the budgetary outcomes for 2013, we will again, in full respect of the Stability and Growth Pact, consider allowing temporary deviations from the structural deficit path towards the medium-term objectives set in the country-specific recommendations on a case by case basis. Such a deviation must be linked to national expenditure on projects co-funded by the EU under the structural and cohesion policy, Trans-European Networks or Connecting Europe Facility with a positive, direct and verifiable long-term budgetary effect”, he added.
Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn has written to EU finance ministers to explain in detail what the Commission is doing with the Stability and Growth Pact rules. This interpretation of the rules was demanded by various political groups at the European Parliament, headed by the S&D, during the talks on the two-pack of legislation updating the SGP.
Italy has now exited the excessive deficit proceedings (see EUROPE 10872) and immediately welcomed the Commission's announcement. On Wednesday, the Palazzo Chigi issued a press release in which it warmly welcomed the increased flexibility with how productive investment in the 2014 budget will be dealt with on balance sheets, saying that this was probably the most important outcome ever achieved by Italy in its relations with the European institutions, adding that the victory was achieved by respecting the budget commitments made by the government from the start. (MB/transl.fl)