Economic partnership programmes
1. If the Council, acting under Article 126(6) TFEU, decides that an excessive deficit exists in a Member State, the Member State concerned shall present to the Commission and to the Council an economic partnership programme describing the policy measures and structural reforms that are needed to ensure an effective and lasting correction of the excessive deficit, as a development of its national reform programme and its stability programme, and fully taking into account the Council recommendations on the implementation of the integrated guidelines for the economic and employment policies of the Member State concerned.
2. The economic partnership programme shall identify and select a number of specific priorities aiming to enhance competitiveness and long-term sustainable growth and addressing structural weaknesses in the Member State concerned. Those priorities shall be consistent with the Union’s strategy for growth and jobs. Where appropriate, potential financial resources shall be identified, including credit lines of the European Investment Bank and other relevant financial instruments, as appropriate.
3. The economic partnership programme shall be presented at the same time as the report provided for in Article 3(4a) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97.
4. The Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, shall adopt an opinion on the economic partnership programme.
5. A corrective action plan as referred to in Article 8(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011 may be amended in accordance with Article 9(4) of that Regulation to replace the economic partnership programme provided for in this Article. Where such a corrective action plan is submitted after the adoption of an economic partnership programme, the measures set out in the economic partnership programme may, as appropriate, be included in the corrective action plan.
6. The implementation of the programme, and the annual budgetary plans consistent with it, shall be monitored by the Council and by the Commission.
Reporting requirements for Member States in excessive deficit procedure
1. Where the Council decides in accordance with Article 126(6) TFEU that an excessive deficit exists in a Member State, the Member State concerned shall, on a request from the Commission, be subject to reporting requirements in accordance with paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article, until the abrogation of its excessive deficit procedure.
2. The Member State shall carry out a comprehensive assessment of in-year budgetary execution for the general government and its subsectors. The financial risks associated with contingent liabilities with potentially large impacts on public budgets, as referred to in Article 14(3) of Directive 2011/85/EU shall also be covered by the assessment to the extent that they may contribute to the existence of an excessive deficit. The result of that assessment shall be included in the report submitted in accordance with Article 3(4a) or Article 5(1a) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 on action taken to correct the excessive deficit.
3. The Member State shall report regularly to the Commission and to the Economic and Financial Committee, for the general government and its subsectors, the in-year budgetary execution, the budgetary impact of discretionary measures taken on both the expenditure and the revenue side, targets for the government expenditure and revenues, and information on the measures adopted and the nature of those envisaged to achieve the targets. The report shall be made public.
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 14 specifying the content of the regular reporting referred to in this paragraph.
4. If the Member State concerned is the subject of a Council recommendation under Article 126(7) TFEU, the report referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article shall be submitted for the first time six months after the report provided for in Article 3(4a) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97, and thereafter on a six-monthly basis.
5. If the Member State concerned is the subject of a Council decision to give notice under Article 126(9) TFEU, the report in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article shall also contain information on the actions being taken in response to the specific Council notice. It shall be submitted for the first time three months after the report provided for in Article 5(1a) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97, and thereafter on a quarterly basis.
6. Upon request and within the deadline set by the Commission, a Member State subject to an excessive deficit procedure shall:
(a)
carry out and report on a comprehensive independent audit of the public accounts of all subsectors of the general government conducted preferably in coordination with national supreme audit institutions, aiming to assess the reliability, completeness and accuracy of those public accounts for the purposes of the excessive deficit procedure;
(b)
provide available additional information for the purposes of monitoring progress towards the correction of the excessive deficit.
The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of statistical data reported by the Member State concerned under point (a) in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 of 25 May 2009 on the application of the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community ( 11 ) .
Member States at risk of non-compliance with their obligation under their excessive deficit procedure
1. When assessing whether compliance with the deadline to correct the excessive deficit, as established by a Council recommendation under Article 126(7) TFEU or a Council decision to give notice under Article 126(9) TFEU, is at risk, the Commission shall base its assessment, inter alia, on the reports submitted by the Member States in accordance with Article 10(3) of this Regulation.
2. In the case of a risk of non-compliance with the deadline to correct the excessive deficit, the Commission shall address a recommendation to the Member State concerned regarding full implementation of the measures provided for in the recommendation or decision to give notice referred to in paragraph 1, adoption of other measures, or both, within a timeframe consistent with the deadline for the correction of its excessive deficit. The recommendation by the Commission shall be made public and shall be presented to the Economic and Financial Committee. At the request of the parliament of the Member State concerned, the Commission shall present the recommendation to that parliament.
3. Within the timeframe set by the Commission recommendation referred to in paragraph 2, the Member State concerned shall report to the Commission on measures adopted in response to that recommendation together with the reports provided for in Article 10(3). The report shall include the budgetary impact of all discretionary measures taken, targets for the government expenditure and revenues, information on the measures adopted and the nature of those envisaged to achieve the targets, and information on the other actions being taken in response to the Commission recommendation. The report shall be made public and shall be presented to the Economic and Financial Committee.
4. On the basis of the report referred to in paragraph 3, the Commission shall assess whether the Member State has complied with the recommendation referred to in paragraph 2.
Impact on the excessive deficit procedure
1. The extent to which the Member State concerned has taken into account the Commission's opinion referred to in Article 7(1) shall be taken into account by:
(a)
the Commission when conducting a report under Article 126(3) TFEU and when recommending the imposition of a non-interest bearing deposit in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 1173/2011;
(b)
the Council when deciding whether an excessive deficit exists in accordance with Article 126(6) TFEU.
2. The monitoring established by Articles 10 and 11 of this Regulation shall be an integral part of the regular monitoring, as provided for in Article 10(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97, of the implementation of action taken by the Member State concerned in response to Council recommendations under Article 126(7) TFEU or Council decisions to give notice under Article 126(9) TFEU to correct the excessive deficit.
3. When considering whether effective action has been taken in response to recommendations under Article 126(7) TFEU or to decisions to give notice under Article 126(9) TFEU, the Commission shall take into account the assessment referred to in Article 11(4) in this Regulation and shall recommend, as appropriate, that the Council take decisions under Article 126(8) or Article 126(11) TFEU, giving due consideration to Article 3(5) and Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97.
Consistency with Regulation (EU) No 472/2013 ( 12 )
Member States subject to a macroeconomic adjustment programme shall not be subject to Articles 6 to 12 of this Regulation.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
