REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 473/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 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
Date: 2016-05-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: EU control, budget deficit, budgetary equilibrium, coordination of EMU policies, delegated legislation, economic recession, euro area, national budget, public debt, transfer of competence

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 26.5.2016  
COM(2016) 281 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission 
pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 473/2013 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 21 May 2013 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 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission 
pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 473/2013 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 21 May 2013 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 

1.  

INTRODUCTION 

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  area1  is  one  of  the  two  legal  acts  of  the 
economic  governance  package  called  ‘the  two-pack’,  which  was  designed  to  enhance 
surveillance  and  monitoring  in  the  euro  area.  In  particular,  it  allows  for  a  strengthened 
surveillance of euro area Member States which are subject to an excessive deficit procedure 
(EDP),  by  means  of  additional  reporting  requirements,  aiming  at  ensuring  prevention  and 
early  correction  of  any  deviations  from  the  Council  recommendations  or  decisions  to  give 
notice to correct the excessive deficit. 

Article 10(3) of Regulation (EU) No 473/2013 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated 
acts  in  order  to  specify  the  content  of  the  additional  reporting  that  Member  States  in 
excessive  deficit  procedure    shall  submit  to  the  Commission  and  to  the  Economic  and 
Financial Committee of the Council. Those powers delegated to the Commission reflected a 
move towards continuous surveillance, in order to monitor more closely whether concerned 
Member States are on track to correct excessive deficit. 

2.  

LEGAL BASIS 

This report is required under Article 14(2) of Regulation (EU) No 473/2013. Pursuant to that 
provision, the power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission for a period of 
three years from 30 May 2013 and the Commission is required to prepare a report in respect 
of the delegation of power. 

3. 

EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

The power to adopt delegated acts was exercised to ensure a binding, harmonized framework 
for  the  information  to  be  reported  by  Member  States,  as  described  under  Article  10  of 
Regulation (EU) No 473/2013.  

In  accordance  with  Article  10(3)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  473/2013,  the  Member  State  – 
whose currency is the euro and which is in EDP – shall report regularly to the Commission 
and to the Economic and Financial Committee, for the general government and its subsectors, 
the  in-year  budgetary  execution,  the  budgetary  impact  of  discretionary  measures  taken  on 
both  the  expenditure  and  the  revenue  side,  targets  for  the  government  expenditure  and 
revenues,  and  information  on  the  measures  adopted  and  the  nature  of  those  envisaged  to 
achieve  the  targets.  Those  reports  must  be  submitted  every  six  months  by  Member  States 

1 OJ L 140, 27.5.2013, p. 11. 

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subject  to  a  recommendation  under  Article  126(7)  TFEU  recommendation  or  every  three 
months  by  Member  States  subject  to  a  notice  under  Article  126(9)  TFEU.  That  regular 
reporting complements the reporting obligations set out in Article 3(4)(a) and Article 5(1)(a) 
of Regulation (EC) No 1467/972, pursuant to which a Member State in EDP must report on 
action taken to correct the excessive deficit.  

Under  Article  10(3)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  473/2013,  the  Commission  is  empowered  to 
adopt delegated acts specifying the content of the regular reporting.  

The Commission has used that power with restraint, by adopting a single delegated regulation 
to  lay  down  specifications  for  the  content  of  the  regular  reports:  Commission  Delegated 
Regulation  (EU)  No  877/2013  of  27  June  2013  supplementing  Regulation  (EU)  No 
473/20133. No further use of the empowerment under Article 10(3) currently is envisaged by 
the Commission. 

The Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 877/2013 gives the structure and content of 
the reports. It includes in particular a set of template tables, to be found in the Annex of the 
Delegated  Regulation,  covering  the  key  budgetary  and  macroeconomic  data  that  allow  the 
correction  of  the  excessive  deficit  to  be  monitored,  as  required  by  Regulation  (EU)  No 
473/2013. In order to allow a better understanding of the dynamics of the budgetary situation, 
Member States concerned are expected to report annual and quarterly data, while data on the 
in-year budgetary execution must be reported on a cash and accrual basis (according to the 
European System of National Accounts (ESA)). In addition, a detailed reporting on measures 
taken  or  planned  to  address  the  excessive  deficit,  with  their  budgetary  impact,  supports  a 
well-informed  assessment  of  the  actions  taken  by  the  Member  States.  The  reporting 
established  by  the  Delegated  Regulation  is  meant  to  provide  a  structured  view  of  the 
budgetary  situation  and  strategy  of  the  Member  State  concerned,  ensuring  an  appropriate 
follow-up of the correction of their excessive deficit. 

In line with the common understanding on delegated acts, the Commission, when preparing 
and  drawing  up  the  draft  Delegated  Regulation,  ensured  a  simultaneous,  timely  and 
appropriate  transmission  of  the  relevant  documents  at  expert  level,  to  the  European 
Parliament  (Committee  on  Economic  and  Monetary  Affairs,  whose  Chair  Sharon  Bowles 
provided  comments  via  a  letter  sent  on  18  June  2013  to  Vice-President  Rehn)  and  to  the 
Council  (Alternates  of  the  Economic  and  Financial  Committee,  which  discussed  it  on  24 
April and 5 June 2013). Those informal consultations allowed  the Commission to take into 
account resulting comments in the draft Delegated Regulation. 

The  Commission  adopted  the  Delegated  Regulation  on  27  June  2013  and  notified  the 
European  Parliament  and  the  Council.  Neither  the  European  Parliament  nor  the  Council 
issued  any  objection  to  the  Delegated  Regulation  within  the  two-month  objection  period 
provided for in Article 14(5) of Regulation (EU) No 473/2013. After the expiry of the two-
month  period,  the  Delegated  Regulation  was  published  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the 
European Union and entered into force on 16 September 2013. 

2 Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive 
deficit procedure (OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 6). 
3 OJ L 244, 13.9.2013, p. 23. 

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4.  

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  has  exercised  its  delegated  powers  correctly  and  invites  the  European 
Parliament and the Council to take note of this Report. 

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