Meeting on 16 June, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council agreed upon its stance regarding part of a package of proposals aimed at reducing risk in the banking industry. The texts relate to the ranking of unsecured debt instruments in insolvency proceedings and transitional arrangements to phase in the regulatory capital impact of the IFRS 9 international accounting standard. They also provide for a phase-out of provisions on the large exposures treatment of public sector debt denominated in non-domestic EU currencies. In other work, the Council closed excessive deficit procedures for Croatia and Portugal, confirming that their deficits have dropped below the EU's 3% of GDP reference value. As a consequence, only four of the EU’s 28 Member States remain subject to excessive deficit procedures, continuing the positive trend since 2011. The Council also approved its 2017 country-specific recommendations to the Member States regarding their economic and fiscal policies.