Meer Europese lidstaten kampen met begrotingstekorten (en)
The European commission adopted economic reports on Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Romania on Wednesday (13 May), signalling that the EU executive now considers their budget deficits in 2008 to have been in breach of EU rules known as the stability and growth pact.
"It is vital that we apply the stability and growth pact …and devise an adjustment path to correct deficits and debts in a timely way," said economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia.
"This is key to preserve the sustainability of public finances in the medium-to-long term," he added.
Under the rules, EU member states are not allowed to run budget deficits in excess of 3 percent of their gross domestic product.
Following Wednesday's decision, the reports will now be handed to a committee of financial experts whose opinion is taken into account before the commission asks EU finance ministers to endorse corrective measures for the four states at their next meeting in June.
The states then have six months to adopt the necessary measures aimed at bringing down their budget deficits within a specific timeframe, deficits largely caused by falling tax receipts and expansionary fiscal policies in 2008.
Malta for instance re-nationalised its shipyards last year at a cost of 1.3 per cent of GDP, whereas Poland increased income tax relief for families, as well as pension and social benefits.
The fallout
As a member of the euro area, Malta is the only one of the four countries that could in theory receive fines as a result of its excessive budget deficit, although the EU executive is quick to point out this has never happened in the past.
"We don't regard any talk of sanctions as helpful," commission spokesman Mark English told EUobserver.
Instead he describes the process as a multilateral surveillance system whereby member states put pressure on each other to reduce their deficits once the current economic crisis is over.
Poland's excessive deficit appears to be having more direct consequences however.
On Monday the country's finance minister, Jacek Rostowski, admitted that entry to the euro area was likely to be delayed by as much as one year as a result of the economic crisis and the government's deteriorating finances.
Poland had hoped to join the two-year waiting chamber, known as ERM-II, to the euro area this year, with a full shift to the common currency scheduled for 2012.
The commission's decision follows a similar move by the EU executive in February regarding the excessive deficits of Greece, Ireland, Latvia and Spain.
The UK and Hungary were already operating under the procedure prior to the onset of the financial crisis.
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