Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-04-Speech-2-302"
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"en.20060404.23.2-302"2
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".
Mr Crowley, the revised Stability and Growth Pact was agreed by the Ecofin Council almost a year ago, in June 2005, following a political agreement within the European Council in March last year.
Our initial experience of the revised Pact has been positive, encouraging, and the indications are that the Member States have a renewed commitment to that framework.
In all recent cases that have been dealt with, when the Commission and the Council have applied the rules of the excessive deficit procedure, in accordance with the letter and the sprit of the revised Pact, there has been full consensus and there have not been the political discrepancies and difficulties that arose last time.
With regard to the preventive aspect of the Pact, the assessment of the 2005 stability and convergence programmes, which have been carried out during the first months of 2006, have shown that the Member States have set their medium-term budgetary objectives in accordance with the agreed principles. Some countries have even decided to set more ambitious objectives, which reflect a national strategy aimed at guaranteeing greater sustainability of public finances. With regard to adjustment to the mid-term objective, the Member States that are not yet in a situation of medium-term balance are generally fulfilling the requirement to make a budgetary effort at least equivalent to 0.5% of their GDP, in structural terms.
To name certain cases, I would remind you that, since the new Pact was approved last year, the excessive deficit procedure has been applied to Italy, Portugal, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Germany, with unanimity in the Council and without the problems of political acceptance which arose during the previous stage.
In response to your question, therefore, the Commission is pleased with the way the new Pact is operating."@en1
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