Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-16-Speech-3-277"
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"en.20000216.16.3-277"2
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"Mr President, I am also pleased to welcome the Spanish Commissioner, Mr Solbes Mira, whom I have congratulated more than once, inside and outside this Parliament, on the excellent work he did in Spain on the subject of European convergence.
Thirdly, government investment means the gross fixed capital formation of the general government sector, as defined in ESA 95.
Fourthly, government debt is defined in accordance with ESA 95, as are the flows or interest stemming from assets/liabilities.
Fifthly and finally, the aggregate to which government debt will relate will be gross domestic product at current market prices, estimated in accordance with the 1995 European System of Accounts’ definitions.
To summarise, I consider that this proposal constitutes a satisfactory adaptation of the criteria laid down in the 1995 European System of Accounts, and I therefore approve it in full, as did the committee.
The proposal for an amendment to this regulation on the application of the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure, annexed to the Treaty of Maastricht, raises fundamental issues concerning the switch to the 1995 European system of accounts, which, as you know, replaced the previous System of Accounts adopted in 1979, and in particular the emergence of new financial product categories, consistency in the calculation of the ratios of government deficit to gross domestic product on the basis of ESA 95 and, finally, recognising the importance of calculating interest expenditure and the consistency of the latter with this new methodology.
In our view, the main purpose of the proposal for a regulation is to update the definitions and the assessments of some of the economic operations involved in the calculation of deficits, as reflected in the Treaty establishing the European Community, the Treaty of Maastricht, which lays down the maximum percentages which the government deficit must not exceed as a ratio of GDP at market prices in the various Member States.
To date, the Member States have calculated this GDP in accordance with the criteria laid down in ESA 79. The most recent estimate of the deficit was submitted in September 1999 and it relates to the 1998 financial year.
Therefore, if the regulation is adopted, the estimate which is due to appear in March 2000, the first estimate of the deficit for the 1999 accounting year, will be made using the new system.
We know the Member States have done their duty – if I can use that expression – doing their calculations and preparing their national accounts in line with ESA 95, and they have already published their corresponding estimates. In addition to incorporating a new methodology, this has meant making slight changes to most accounting aggregates and operations, on account of the aforesaid methodological changes, and also the improved statistical information included in the estimates. These changes may of course alter the government deficits in terms of the Member States’ national accounting.
I will now describe, very briefly, the five areas where the most important changes may occur.
First, the adjustments to the scope of what is meant by ‘government institutional sector’ under ESA 95. This is important, since government deficit means the deficit accumulated by all forms of government. The non-availability of precise criteria for the definition of government deficit would produce distortions in the estimates of the Member States’ government deficits.
Secondly, the deficit – or, if applicable, the surplus – means the ESA 95 government sector’s net borrowing requirement or lending ability respectively"@en1
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