Brussels, 28/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission formally filed a complaint at the European Court of Justice against the Ecofin Council's decision last November to suspend excessive deficit procedures against France and Germany. According to an AFP release, the Court specified that the Commission's request, received by fax, was being registered on Wednesday at the Court's Registrar. According to the Commission, the choice of accelerated procedure would allow a ruling to be made on this case within three to six months, as opposed to two years if normal procedure were used. The choice of choosing accelerated procedure nonetheless remains up the Court alone (see EUROPE of 14 January, p.7).
Although Commissioner Pedro Solbes was determined to draw lessons from these developments, he confirmed on Wednesday before the press that the Commission plans not to amend the treaty but to amend some of the regulations on implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact. Work, as the Commission sees it for the future, will place greater emphasis on public debt and the viability of public finance in surveillance of Member State budgets. The Commission mainly trusts that stricter controls in periods of economic expansion may be combined with a certain amount of flexibility in conducting national budgetary policies and will take better account of the specific characteristics of each Member State.