Decision 2016/1222 - Council Decision 2016/1222 establishing that no effective action has been taken by Spain in response to the Council recommendation of 21 June 2013 - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 201/19

According to Article 126 of the Treaty, Member States shall avoid excessive government deficits.

The Stability and Growth Pact is based on the objective of sound government finances as a means of strengthening the conditions for price stability and for strong sustainable growth conducive to employment creation. The Stability and Growth Pact includes Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 (1), which was adopted in order to further the prompt correction of excessive general government deficits.

The Council, acting upon a recommendation by the Commission, decided on 27 April 2009, in accordance with Article 104(6) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, that an excessive deficit existed in Spain and issued a recommendation to correct the excessive deficit by 2012 at the latest in accordance with Article 104(7) of that Treaty. Since then, the Council has issued three recommendations to Spain (on 2 December 2009, 10 July 2012 and 21 June 2013) on the basis of Article 126(7) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which extended the deadline for correcting the excessive deficit to 2013, 2014 and 2016 respectively. In all three recommendations the Council considered that Spain had taken effective action, but unexpected adverse economic events with major unfavourable consequences for government finances had occurred (2).

In its recommendation of 21 June 2013, the Council recommended that Spain reach a headline deficit target of 6,5 % of GDP in 2013, 5,8 % of GDP in 2014, 4,2 % of GDP in 2015, and 2,8 % of GDP in 2016, which was consistent with an improvement of the structural balance of 1,1 %, 0,8 %, 0,8 %, and 1,2 % of GDP in the years 2013-2016, respectively, based on the Commission 2013 spring forecast extended to 2016. To achieve that improvement, Spain was asked to implement additional measures amounting to 2 %, 1 % and 1,5 % of GDP in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. Furthermore, Spain was requested (i) to strengthen the effectiveness of the institutional framework by raising further transparency in the implementation of the Budgetary Stability Law as well as by establishing an independent fiscal council to provide analysis, advice and monitor compliance of fiscal policy with national and Union fiscal rules; (ii) to undertake concrete steps to rein in the increasing structural deficit in the social security system; and (iii) to give greater emphasis to the growth-friendliness of the consolidation, including by conducting systematic reviews of expenditure and the tax system. Finally, to ensure the success of the fiscal consolidation strategy, the recommendation also pointed out that it was important to back the fiscal consolidation with comprehensive structural reforms, in line with the Council recommendations addressed to Spain in the context of the European Semester and the macroeconomic imbalances procedure.

The Commission 2013 spring forecast, extended to 2016, which underpinned the Council recommendation of 21 June 2013, projected that the Spanish economy would contract by 1,5 % in 2013 before growing by 0,9 %, 1,4 % and 1,9 %, respectively, in the three subsequent years. Nominal GDP growth was forecast at 0,1 % and 2,0 % in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and at 2,6 % and 3,2 % in the two following years.

In its recommendation of 21 June 2013, the...