EC: Hungary does not comply with Council’s budget recommendations

Hungary has not taken action to comply with European Council budget recommendations, the European Commission said in a report released on Wednesday.

The European Commission therefore proposes that the Council should amend recommendations for measures to be taken in 2020 to correct for a big deviation from the country’s medium-term budget targets.

The EC recommends that Hungary take steps to ensure that the nominal growth rate of net primary government expenditure does not exceed 4.7 percent in 2020, corresponding to an annual structural adjustment of 0.75 percent of GDP.

The EC said the Council should also recommend that Hungary should “use any windfall gains for deficit reduction” and “compensate unexpected revenue shortfalls with high-quality permanent fiscal measures”.

Hungary is to report to the Council on actions it has taken by April 15, 2020, according to the proposed recommendation.

Both Hungary and Romania have been assessed in the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact. A warning is made in the case of major alignment deviations and to help EU member states to restore their budgetary positions.

Source: mti