Vijf EU-lidstaten ontvangen waarschuwing wegens begrotingstekort (en)
The European Commission on Tuesday set a deadline by which five EU member states must correct their excessive budget deficits.
The EU executive said that Greece must correct its budget shortfall by 2010, France and Spain by 2012, Ireland by 2013 and the UK by 2013-14.
Under EU rules – the Stability and Growth Pact - member states should keep their budget deficits below three percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
But several countries have gone beyond this limit, notably as a result of the global economic downturn and its impact on public finances.
According to Brussels' estimates, Ireland's deficit should reach 11 percent by the end of this year, that of Britain 9.5 percent, Spain 6.2 percent, France 5.6 percent and Greece 3.7 percent.
"National budgetary positions in the EU and elsewhere have deteriorated considerably in the last year and are set to deteriorate further on account of the economic crisis we are living through and the discretionary measures rightly adopted by member states to sustain demand and promote investment," EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia said.
"To limit the costs of the debt for generations present and future, it is crucial that governments devise an adjustment path whereby they commit to correct public deficits from the moment the economy starts to recover, which is expected to happen gradually in 2010," he added.
The commission's recommendation needs now to be approved by EU finance ministers, with the five countries then having six months to present measures that they intend to take to reduce their deficits.
If they fail to meet the deadline in spite of the actions they have taken, the commission would set a new date, according to a Brussels official quoted by the BBC.
The commission has already indicated it would be flexible in setting deadlines for correcting the deficits because of the severity of the global financial crisis, which it has called the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Press Articles
-
-
Press Release
Meer over...