EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 65/218

(2004/C 65 E/233)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2786/03

by Manuel dos Santos (PSE) to the Commission

(17 September 2003)

Subject: Revision of the stability and growth programme

The Portuguese authorities recently made a public announcement to the effect that the Commission had been notified of a budget deficit for the current year equivalent to 2,944 % of GDP.

This percentage was achieved only through the inclusion of exceptional revenue, an operation which evidently cannot be repeated.

Such revenue includes the Government's intention to incorporate the CTT pension fund into state revenue, amounting to around EUR 930 million, or 0,7 % of GDP.

It appears that authorisation for this financial operation has already been requested from the Commission.

The Commission:

1. Can it confirm that it has received a request from the Portuguese Government for authorisation for this financial operation?

2. Was this request supported by an opinion from the General Retirement Fund on the long-term impact of transferring the corresponding social obligations to the State?

3. Has any announcement been made to the effect that an independent capitalisation fund is to be set up to guarantee the obligations taken on by the State as a result of this transfer operation?

4. Has a Eurostat opinion been drawn up on the matter, and if so, has this opinion already been forwarded to the Portuguese Government?

5. If authorisation is granted for this revenue to be included in the calculations, will the Commission make it subject to any conditions? If so, what conditions will apply?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(13 Oktober 2003)

On 1 September 2003, Portugal reported to the Commission that their planned government deficit for 2003 was 2,9 % of the gross domestic product (GDP). Moreover, the Portuguese authorities informed that this projection includes receipts of EUR 930 million (equivalent to 0,7 % of GDP) to be paid by the public enterprise CTT to Caixa Geral de Aposentações (the civil servants social insurance scheme). This payment is in exchange of the transfer of pension responsibility vis-à-vis the CTT employees that have civil servant status.

The deficit figures that are reported by the Member States to the Commission, and which are the basis for assessing the respect of the Stability and Growth Pact, should be established according to the rules of the European System of National and Regional Accounts (or ESA95) (1). When the ESA95 rules do not cover any specific transaction, the respective accounting treatment is decided by Eurostat, on behalf of the Commission, in accordance with the Code of Best Practice on the compilation and reporting of data in the context of the excessive deficit procedure adopted by the Council on 18 February 2003. The procedure leading to the decision on the accounting treatment usually involves the creation of a small technical task force and the consultation of the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payment Statistics (CMFB). This procedure can be initiated either at the request of Member States, or by the Commission (Eurostat).

ESA95 does not provide clear guidance on the accounting treatment of transactions which involve lumpsum payments to government in exchange of the transfer of the responsibility for future pension systems. Therefore, in April 2003, it was decided to clarify the accounting treatment of these operations and to launch the above-described procedure. A task force — which included one representative of the Portuguese statistical institute — met in June 2003 and the CMFB will be consulted shortly. Although no date has been announced, the decision on the accounting treatment of these transactions will be made public this autumn.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community, OJ L 310, 30.11.1996.