The Ecofin Council is due to approve the multiannual budget programmes for Austria and Lithuania on Tuesday 8 July.
In the case of Austria, the Council is expected to validate the following trajectory for maximum net growth in public spending: 2.6% in 2025, 2.2% in 2026 and 2027, 2.0% in 2028 and 2.3% in 2029.
Assuming national GDP growth of 1.1% over the entire period, the Austrian authorities are committed to reducing the excessive public deficit from 4.7% of GDP in 2025 to 3.0% in 2028 and 2.5% in 2029. Reductions in expenditure (savings, cuts in subsidies, structural reforms) will reach €5.0 billion in 2025 and €1.7 billion in 2026.
On the same day, the Council could recommend that Vienna reduce its excessive deficit to below 3.0% by the end of 2028 (see EUROPE 13670/8).
See the Austrian multiannual budget programme: https://aeur.eu/f/hnz
Lithuania. For Lithuania, the Council will validate the following trajectory for maximum net growth in public spending: 6.1% in 2025, 5.2% in 2026, 4.8% in 2027, 4.5% in 2028 and 4.3% in 2029.
With national GDP growth expected to slow from 2.8% in 2024 to 1.8% in 2029, the Lithuanian authorities are committed to maintaining the public deficit at 1.3% of GDP.
Unlike Austria, Lithuania has activated the national opt-out clause of the Stability and Growth Pact to temporarily deviate from its path of fiscal consolidation in order to increase military spending (see other news) .
See the Lithuanian multiannual budget programme: https://aeur.eu/f/ho0 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)