Communication from the Commission. Harmonized framework for draft budgetary plans and debt issuance reports within the euro area

Regulation (EU) No 473/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on common provisions for monitoring and assessing draft budgetary plans and ensuring the correction of excessive deficit of the Member States in the euro area entered into force on 30 May 2013. It builds on and complements within the euro area (EA) the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), the European framework for fiscal surveillance. This Regulation takes a concrete and decisive step towards strengthening the surveillance mechanisms applicable to all EA Member States.

The new fiscal surveillance features for EA Member States stemming from Regulation No 473/2013 mean increased transparency on their budgetary decisions and stronger budgetary coordination between them starting with the 2014 budgetary cycle.

In particular, the new common budgetary provisions include a new coordinated surveillance exercise that will take place annually in the autumn. By 15 October every autumn, all EA Member States will submit their draft budgetary plans (DBPs) for the forthcoming year. For each EA Member State, the Commission will then issue an opinion on the DBP before the adoption of the corresponding national budget.

Where, in exceptional cases, the Commission identifies particularly serious non-compliance of a plan with the budgetary policy obligations laid down in the SGP, a revised draft plan will be requested after consulting the Member State concerned. This new common budgetary timeline will facilitate policy coordination among euro area Member States and ensure that Council and Commission recommendations are appropriately integrated in the budgetary procedure of the Member States.

This Communication puts forward a harmonized framework for EA Member States to submit their DBPs. A set of templates are to be found in the Annex, covering the key budgetary and macroeconomic data for the forthcoming year as required by Regulation No 473/2013.

Furthermore, Regulation No 473/2013 also fosters a better coordination of national debt issuance plans, establishing a reporting obligation for all EA Member States. In particular, all EA Member States are required to ex-ante and timely report on their national debt issuance plans. This information will further enable an adequate monitoring of debt developments in the euro area and will increase coordination of debt issuance decisions. According to Article 8 of this Regulation, the harmonized form and content of these reports "shall be laid down by the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States". Thus, this Communication also puts forward a harmonized form and content for EA Member States to report on their national debt issuance plans.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)490: Follow the progress of this communication through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:490:FIN

ESO: Background information: Economic governance: Council adopts 'two-pack' http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-economic-governance-council-adopts-two-pack/

---