THE European Commission announced today Wednesday that it is paving the way for the opening of an excessive deficit procedure against seven member states, including France and Italy.

Specifically, in its report on the spring European Semester published today, the Commission finds that the initiation of the excessive deficit procedure for the France, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia, Malta, Hungary and Poland. The Commission plans to propose to the Council to open the excessive deficit procedure for these seven member states in July, and is expected to present its recommendations for correcting the budget deficits in the autumn.

According to the Commission, a total of ten Member States exceeded the 3% of GDP threshold last year: France, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Spain and the Czech Republic, while in 2024 the limit is expected to be exceeded by Finland and Slovenia.

According to the Commission’s spring economic forecasts, in 2023 Italy recorded a deficit of 7.4% of GDP, France (5.5%), Slovakia and Malta (4.9%) and Belgium (4.4%). ).

New Stability Pact rules require countries with excessive deficits to reduce the deficit by at least 0.5 unit per year. The new rules provide for financial penalties of 0.1% of GDP per year for countries that do not comply with recommendations to correct their fiscal deficit.