Brussels, 27/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - The public debt of eleven countries (Belgium, Ireland, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Finland and the United Kingdom) is potentially a medium-term term risk, according to a 2015 report on the sustainability of public finances in 26 member states (all bar Cyprus and Greece) unveiled by the European Commission on Monday 25 January.
Among these eleven countries, the debt of six of them (Belgium, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy and Portugal) is deemed to be at high risk due to the high level of debt as a percentage of GDP (above 90%) under the baseline no-fiscal policy change scenario. At the end of the third quarter of 2015, the highest public debt to GDP ratios were in Greece (171.0%), Italy (134.6%) and Portugal (130.5%), according to figures released by the EU's statistical office, Eurostat (see EUROPE 11474).
Broadly speaking, the inherent challenges to public finance sustainability have been significantly reduced compared with the eurozone sovereign debt crisis days, explained Marco Buti, head of the European Commission's economic service, in a preface to the report. Important medium-term challenges remain, however, mostly as a result of debt accumulated during the years of crisis and, in the longer term, largely due to the planned increased spending to deal with the ageing population, he added, noting that Slovenia seems the worst-placed in this connection. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)