7 EU members' budget at risk of non-compliance

Seven EU members are at risk of non-compliance with the provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact, the European Commission said here on Friday.
The seven countries are Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Austria and Portugal, according to the Commission.
Of the 16 eurozone countries' 2015 Draft Budgetary Plans assessed by the Commission, four of them are broadly compliant. They are Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia and Finland.
The commission asked the 11 countries to take necessary measures within the national budgetary process to ensure their 2015 budget be compliant with the Pact.
The assessment covered all euro area countries except Greece and Cyprus, both of which are under economic adjustment programs. According to its result, the 2015 Draft Budgetary Plans from five countries are compliant.
In the cases of France, Italy and Belgium, the Commission will examine the situation in early March 2015. The Commission said France, Italy and Belgium had committed at the highest level of government to adopt and implement growth-enhancing structural reforms by early 2015.
Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, said the Commission "will decide in early March whether any further steps are necessary under the Stability and Growth Pact. By then we will have a clearer picture of whether governments are delivering on their reform commitments."
The Commission already concluded in October that none of the Draft Budgetary Plans for 2015 showed "particularly serious non-compliance" with the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact, which aims to ensure sound public finances in the EU.