Recommendation for a Council Decision abrogating Decision 2010/283/EU on the existence of an excessive deficit in Belgium

By Council Decision 2010/283/EU of 2 December 2009, following a recommendation from the Commission, it was decided that an excessive deficit existed in Belgium. The Council noted that the general government deficit planned for 2009 was 5.9% of GDP, thus above the 3% of GDP Treaty reference value, while the general government gross debt was planned to reach 97.6% of GDP in 2009, thus above the 60% of GDP Treaty reference value.

On 2 December 2009, in accordance with Article 126(7) of the Treaty and Article 3(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 of 7 July 1997 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure, the Council, based on a recommendation from the Commission, addressed a recommendation to Belgium with a view to bringing the excessive deficit situation to an end by 2012 at the latest. The recommendation was made public.

On 21 June 2013, on the basis of a Commission recommendation, the Council decided under Article 126(8) of the Treaty that Belgium had not taken effective action in compliance with the Council Recommendation of 2 December 2009 to correct its excessive deficit by 2012, and decided under Article 126(9) of the Treaty to give notice to Belgium to put an end to the excessive deficit situation by 2013. Belgium was given the deadline of 15 September to report on the measures taken to comply with this decision in accordance with Article 5(1a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97. On 15 November 2013, the Commission concluded that Belgium had taken effective action and that no further steps in the excessive deficit procedure were needed at that moment.

The Council recalls that, starting in 2014, which is the year following the correction of the excessive deficit, Belgium is subject to the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact and should progress towards its medium-term objective at an appropriate pace, including respecting the expenditure benchmark, and make sufficient progress towards compliance with the debt criterion in accordance with Article 2(1a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 of July 1997 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure.

In the view of the Council, the excessive deficit in Belgium has been corrected and Decision 2010/283/EU should therefore be abrogated.

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)437: Follow the progress of this recommendation through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:437:FIN

ESO: Background information: Commission takes steps under the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) http://www.europeansources.info/record/memo-commission-takes-steps-under-the-excessive-deficit-procedure-edp/

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