Europese Commissie vraagt België om herziening nationaal begrotingsrapport (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission wrapped up its initial assessment of member state budgetary reports on Wednesday (24 June), but called on the Belgian government to resubmit a new report this autumn due to a lack of detail in its most recent offering.
"The absence of crucial information in the programme, such as the expenditure and revenue ratios, has hampered the possibility of assessing the credibility of the deficit and debt targets in the programme," the commission said in a statement.
Economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia told journalists on Tuesday evening that "very, very little information was included [in the report]", specifically in the area of public expenditure, reports Belgian daily Le Soir.
One EU official working on the reports – known as stability and convergence programmes - told EUobserver the Belgian document was like a "shell", totally lacking in the necessary supporting data to back up deficit projections.
The government – unavailable for comment on Wednesday - now has until the 20 September to come forward with a more detailed report.
Excessive deficit procedures
The European Commission has now adopted reports for nine member states this year under the bloc's excessive deficit procedure, which limits government deficits to three percent of GDP.
The nine countries ran deficits over three percent in 2008, the reference year used by the commission in its latest assessments, while the UK and Hungary received reports prior to 2009.
The reports, roughly half of which have been approved by EU finance ministers, set out a timetable for member-state governments to bring their deficits back below three percent.
First up are Greece and Malta with a 2010 deadline, followed by Romania, Lithuania and Hungary, which have until 2011, Poland, France and Spain until 2012, Ireland until 2013 and the UK until 2013-14.
The commission is currently deciding on a deadline for Latvia at the same time as it considers whether to release the next tranche – likely to be €1.2 billion – of an EU-and-IMF-led loan to the embattled Baltic state.
Timetable criteria
In calculating the timetables, the commission considers the size of projected deficits, growth forecasts and current debt levels of each country.
As a result, a country such as Ireland, where growth is forecast to contract by nine percent this year and the budget deficit is expected to reach into double figures, but which also enjoys a comparatively low debt-to-GDP ratio, has been allowed until 2013 to sort out its finances.
At the other end, Greece, which will suffer only a mild contraction in growth this year and a return to positive territory next year but with a debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding 100 percent, has been told to reign in its deficit by next year.
In the autumn, the commission will start a fresh round of assessments, this time looking for countries whose 2009 deficit is likely to exceed three percent of GDP.
If – as is expected – a further nine member states receive commission reports, a total of 20 out of the EU's 27 member states will be operating under the excessive deficit procedure.
Only the Scandinavian countries and a small number of others are likely to escape the deficit reducing schedules that can, in theory, result in fines for euro area members if they repeatedly fail to meet the deadlines.