excessive deficit

The European Commission on Wednesday concluded that Romania is running an excessive deficit, and the country has to reduce the budget deficit to below 3% of the gross domestic product by 2011.

Romania is not definitively free of the risk of being sanctioned by the European Commission for an excessive deficit in 2008, because the Commission can start this procedure anytime, Prime Minister Emil Boc said Monday evening.

The European Commission launched Wednesday the excessive deficit procedure against six EU member states, after considering the exceptional circumstances of the ongoing sharp economic downturn, while Romania has not been yet analyzed by the Commission.

Romanian Government already drafted an emergency ordinance that includes a series of measures on cutting budget expenses, to keep the deficit at a low level and thus avoid European Commission’s excessive deficit procedure.