Recommendation for a Council Decision abrogating Decision 2010/401/EU on the existence of an excessive deficit in Cyprus

On 13 July 2010, following a recommendation from the Commission, the Council decided by Decision 2010/401/EU that an excessive deficit existed in Cyprus. On the same date the Council, based on a recommendation from the Commission, addressed a recommendation to Cyprus with a view to bringing an end to the situation of an excessive government deficit by 2012 at the latest.

On 27 January 2011, the Commission concluded that, on the basis of information available at the time, Cyprus had taken action representing adequate progress towards the correction of the excessive deficit within the time limits set by the Council. On 11 January 2012, the Commission again confirmed that Cyprus had taken effective action towards a timely and sustainable correction of the excessive deficit.

On 16 May 2013 the Council concluded that effective action had been taken but that unexpected adverse economic events with major unfavourable consequences for government finances had occurred after the adoption of the recommendation in 2010. Therefore, the Council, following a recommendation from the Commission, considered that the conditions envisaged in Article 3(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 were fulfilled and issued a revised recommendation to Cyprus with a view to bringing the excessive deficit situation to an end by 2016.

In the view of the Council, based on data provided by the Commission (Eurostat) following the April 2016 notification by Cyprus, the 2016 Stability Programme and the Commission 2016 spring forecast, the excessive deficit in Cyprus has been corrected and Decision 2010/401/EU should therefore be abrogated.