EU Council open excessive deficit procedures against four member states

In its recommendations, EU finance Ministers called on Bulgaria and Finland to bring their deficits below the 3 % of GDP threshold by 2011, on Cyprus to do so by 2012 and on Denmark to do so by 2013.

For all four Member States, the ECOFIN set 13 January 2011 as the deadline for taking corrective measures.  This decision was adopted on the existence of excessive government deficits in those four Member States which had exceeded the 3% reference value set by the treaty for the ratio of deficit to gross domestic product (GDP).

According to the data notified by the Member States themselves, the 3% bar was effectively exceeded by Bulgaria and Cyprus in 2009 and is expected to be exceeded by Denmark and Finland in 2010. With regards to corrective action, the ECOFIN decided that in the case of Cyprus and Denmark, on the basis of economic prospects as presented by the Commission, there were special circumstances, on account of the impact of the global economic crisis, warranting correction of the deficit in the medium-term rather than the short term.

However, in the case of Bulgaria and Finland, on the other hand, EU Finance Ministers concluded that there was no reason to depart from the normal timetable for remedying the deficit.