On Tuesday 21 January, the Council of the European Union approved recommendations concerning the multiannual fiscal plans of 21 Member States and seven excessive deficit procedures (EDP) opened against seven Member States (see EUROPE 13532/11).
EDP. The EU Council’s recommendations for excessive deficit procedures concern the following Member States - with the recommendation for Hungary to be approved in February (see EUROPE 13560/20):
- Belgium will have to reduce its public deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2027. The target for net growth in public spending is as follows: 2.4% in 2025, 1.9% in 2026 and 2.0% in 2027.
See the EU Council’s recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/f5g
- France will have to reduce its public deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2029. The target for net growth in public spending is as follows: 0.8% in 2025, 1.2% in 2026, 1.2% in 2027, 1.2% in 2028 and 1.1% in 2029.
French Finance Minister Éric Lombard said that the agreed path for consolidating France’s public finances was “in the country’s interest”. He added that “our courageous budget” for 2025 would require efforts from everyone.
European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity Valdis Dombrovskis welcomed the fact that France’s revised medium-term plan maintains “the same level of ambition” as that initially presented by the previous ‘Barnier’ government, with a net growth rate in public spending of “1.1% on average over the period” in order to correct the excessive deficit by 2029.
See the EU Council’s recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/f5f
-Italy will have to reduce its public deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2026. The target for net growth in public spending is as follows: 1.3% in 2025 and 1.6% in 2026.
See the EU Council’s recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/f4y
- Malta will have to reduce its public deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2027. The target for net growth in public spending is as follows: 6.0% in 2025, 5.8% in 2026 and 5.8% in 2027.
See the EU Council’s recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/f4z
- Poland will have to reduce its public deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2028. The target for net growth in public spending is as follows: 6.3% in 2025, 4.4% in 2026, 4.0% in 2027 and 3.5% in 2028.
See the EU Council’s recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/f50
- Romania will have to reduce its public deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2030. The target for net growth in public spending is as follows: 5.1% in 2025, 4.9% in 2026, 4.7% in 2027, 4.3% in 2028, 4.2% in 2029 and 3.9% in 2030.
See the EU Council’s recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/f52
- Slovakia will have to reduce its public deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2027. The target for net growth in public spending is as follows: 3.8% in 2025, 0.9% in 2026 and 1.6% in 2027.
See the EU Council’s recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/f51
Multiannual fiscal plans. The Ecofin Council also approved the medium-term budget programmes (four or seven years) of 21 EU countries (all except Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and Lithuania).
Five Member States (Finland, France, Ireland, Italy and Romania) wanted the budgetary adjustment period extended to seven years. On Tuesday, the EU Council also approved the package of reform and investment commitments that underpin this extension.
See the EU Council’s recommendations on the 21 multiannual fiscal plans: https://aeur.eu/f/f43 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)