Press Release: Commission proceeds with excessive deficit procedure for Hungary

Based on the assessment of its budgetary situation, the European Commission recommended to the Council on 22 December 2004 to decide that the action taken by Hungary to correct its excessive budget deficit was ineffective. While some consolidation was achieved, the deficit targets of 4.6% of GDP for 2004 and 4.1% of GDP for 2005 are likely to be missed by 0.9 percentage point. Further measures appear necessary to ensure that the objective set by the government and recommended by the Council of bringing the deficit below 3% of GDP in 2008 is safely achieved.