Press Release: Commission takes steps under the excessive deficit procedure for France, Greece, Ireland, Spain and UK; assesses Stability Programme of Cyprus

Following the assessment, in February, of their Stability and Convergence Programmes, the European Commission proposed deadlines for the correction of the budget deficits of Greece, Spain, France and Ireland that were above 3% already in 2008. The Commission also proposed a new deadline for the correction of the excessive deficit in the UK. The deadlines proposed take account of the respective fiscal and macro-economic situations of the countries concerned. Once the recommendations have been adopted by the Council, the five countries will have six months to specify what measures they intend to take to progressively reduce the deficit. The Commission also examined the updated Stability Programme of Cyprus and found that the fiscal policy in 2009 will be rather expansionary. This should be reversed in the following years in view of the large external imbalances.