25/09/2017 (Agence Europe) – Meeting in its General Affairs formation on Monday 25 September, the Council of the EU formally decided to cancel decision 2009/415/EC, thus allowing Greece to come out of the excessive deficit procedure. This decision enshrines the observation that the Greek deficit has been corrected, which was made by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States (Coreper) on 20 September (see EUROPE 11866), Greece having recorded a primary budgetary surplus (not including servicing of the debt) of +4.2% of GDP in 2016 (see EUROPE 11786). The Hellenic Republic will therefore join the preventative arm of the Stability and Growth Pact. Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, welcomed the decision of the Council, describing it as a “recognition of the huge efforts made by the Greek people since 2009”. (LT)