Commission assessment on Malta, Lithuania, Hungary and Latvia.

27/1/2010.

What is the legal background?

The EU budgetary surveillance framework implies, inter alia, that excessive deficits should be avoided. The excessive deficit procedure (EDP), as the "corrective arm" of the Pact, is regulated by Article 126 of the Treaty and further specified in Council Regulation 1467/97.

Which steps were taken under the excessive deficit procedure today?

The Commission concluded that effective action in compliance with the Council recommendations of July 2009 was taken by Malta, Lithuania, Hungary and Latvia.

Due to unexpected events with a major economic and budgetary impact, the Commission concluded that the deadlines for correction of the excessive deficit for Malta and Lithuania are no longer realistic. It therefore proposed to extend the deadlines by one year, to 2011 for Malta and 2012 for Lithuania. For Hungary and Latvia no further steps were deemed necessary.

Next steps

The Ecofin Council will discuss the recommendations at the upcoming February meeting. If adopted, the Member States with a revised deadline (Malta and Lithuania) will then have six months to indicate what action they intend to take to reduce the budget deficit.

The Commission will continue to monitor developments in the Member States that are not envisaged to receive an extension of the deadline (Hungary and Latvia).

Documents

>> Press release IP/10/53. Commission concludes Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta have taken effective action to correct their budget deficits; extends deadlines for Lithuania and Malta  .
>> Ongoing excessive deficit procedure: Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta