On Friday 26 July, following a written procedure, the Council of the European Union decided to launch excessive deficit procedures against seven Member States: France, Hungary, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Malta and Slovakia (see EUROPE 13435/1).
The Council also established that Romania, which has been the subject of an excessive deficit procedure since 2020, had not taken effective measures to correct its deficit and that the procedure should therefore remain open, according to a press release.
Member States must comply with budgetary discipline on the basis of criteria and reference values defined in the EU Treaties: their deficit must not exceed 3% of their gross domestic product (GDP) and their debt must not exceed 60% of their GDP.
The deficits are as follows: Italy: 7.4%; Hungary: 6.7%; Romania: 6.6%; France: 5.5%; Poland: 5.1%; Malta: 4.9%; Slovakia: 4.9%; Belgium: 4.4%.
At the end of the year, the Council will be asked to adopt recommendations to the Member States to correct their deficits. The Commission should present these draft recommendations to the Council around November. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)