Brussels, 08/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - Compared to 2013, public expenditure was cut in Greece by 10.7% of national GDP in 2014, the greatest drop seen in the European Union over this period, according to data published by the statistical office of the EU (Eurostat) on Tuesday 7 July.
Over the period observed, public expenditure was down in 13 member states: Greece (-10.7%), Slovenia (-9.9%), Ireland (-1.7%), the United Kingdom and Portugal (-1.1% each), Spain (-0.7%), Lithuania (-0.6%), Poland and Romania (-0.4% each), Sweden (-0.3%), the Netherlands (-0.2%) and Belgium and Denmark (-0.1%). The greatest increase was seen in Cyprus (+7.7%), due notably to the bailout of the country's financial sector, followed by Malta (+1.6%) and Austria (+1.4%). On average, public expenditure was down by 0.4% and 0.5% of GDP in the eurozone and the European Union respectively.
In 2014, Finland (58.7%), France (57.2%) and Denmark (57.0%) held the highest ratios of public administrative expenditure to national GDP. The total expenditure of the public administrations, on the other hand, was below 40% of GDP in Lithuania and Romania (34.9% each), Latvia (36.9%), Estonia (38.8%), Ireland (39.0%) and Bulgaria (39.2%).
In 2013, the 'social protection' function constituted the largest public expenditure post, at 40.2% of GDP in the EU of 28 and 41% of GDP in the EU of 19. This was followed by the 'health' function (14.8% of GDP in the EU of 28 and 14.7% of GDP in the EU of 19), whilst education expenditure represented 10.3% of GDP in the EU and 9.3% of GDP in the EU of 19. (Mathieu Bion)