Brussels, 13/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - At its meeting on 18 February 2009, the European Commission will examine eight updated Stability Programmes for eurozone countries and nine Convergence Programmes for non-eurozone Member States. It will adopt the recommended Stability Programmes of Germany, Spain, Finland, France Greece, Ireland, Malta and the Netherlands and the recommended Convergence Programmes for Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The Member States have submitted updated programmes, taking account of the various measures introduced as part of their economic recovery plans. Another raft of programmes will be analysed at the next meeting of the European Commission (25 February 2009).
On Wednesday, the European Commission will also examine the public finance situation of some of the countries in respect of Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) rules. It will adopt six reports (on Spain, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia and Malta) under Article 104, paragraph 3 of the Treaty, on whether these countries have excessive budget deficits. The Economic and Finance Committee (EFC) will examine the reports in the following fortnight before the European Commission can decide in March 2009 whether to formally open procedures for excessive deficit.
According to the latest European Commission forecasts (see EUROPE 9821), Spain's budget deficit reached 3.4% of GDP in 2008 and will rise to 6.2% in 2009 and 5.7% in 2010. France's deficit was 3.2% in 2008 and will rise to 5.4% in 2009 and 5% in 2010. The Greek deficit will rise from 3.4% in 2008 to 3.7% in 2009 and 4.2% in 2010. Ireland's deficit stood at 6.3% in 2008 and will rise significantly in 2009 to 11% and as high as 13% in 2010. The situation is slightly different in Latvia and Malta, whose deficits are close to the cut-off point. Latvia's deficit stood at only 2.9% in 2008 but will rise to 3% in 2009 and 3.4% in 2010. Malta's deficit is expected to gradually fall from 3.5% in 2008 to 2.6% in 2009 and 2.5% in 2010. Exceptional circumstances like the current economic crisis means that a degree of flexibility is being allowed both in terms of detecting an excess budget deficit and in terms of the timeframe allowed for bringing the budget back to the required level (below 3% of GDP) and the intensity of the measures set to achieve this. (A.B.)