Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the existence of an excessive deficit in Austria
Date: 2025-06-23
Institutions: Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: Austria, budget deficit, economic policy, economic reform, gross domestic product, public debt, public finance, stability pact

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 23.6.2025  COM(2025) 345 final 2025/0186 (NLE)  Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the existence of an excessive deficit in Austria  
 
2025/0186 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DECISION 

on the existence of an excessive deficit in Austria 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 126(6) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Having regard to the observations made by Austria, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

According  to  Article  126  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union 
(TFEU) Member States shall avoid excessive government deficits. 

The  Stability  and  Growth  Pact  (SGP)  is  based  on  the  objective  of  sound  and 
sustainable  government finances as a means of strengthening the conditions for price 
stability  and  for  strong,  sustainable  and  inclusive  growth  underpinned  by  financial 
stability, thereby supporting the achievement of the Union’s objectives for sustainable 
growth and employment. 

The  excessive  deficit  procedure  (EDP)  under  Article  126  TFEU,  as  clarified  by 
Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  1467/97  on  speeding  up  and  clarifying 
the 
implementation of the excessive deficit procedure1, which is part of the SGP, provides 
for a decision on the existence of an excessive deficit. Protocol No 12 on the excessive 
deficit  procedure,  annexed  to  the  Treaty  on  the  European  Union  and  the  TFEU,  sets 
out  further  provisions  relating  to  the  implementation  of  the  excessive  deficit 
procedure.  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  479/20092  lays  down  detailed  rules  and 
definitions  for  the  application  of  those  provisions.  The  Union’s  reformed  economic 
governance  framework,  which  came  into  force  on  30  April  2024,  includes  Council 
Regulation (EU) 2024/1264, which amended Regulation (EC) No 1467/97. The reform 
kept the rules of the excessive deficit procedure due to non-compliance with the deficit 
criterion broadly unchanged, whereas for Member States with a government debt ratio 
above  60%  of  GDP  the  excessive  deficit  procedure  due  to  non-compliance  with  the 
debt criterion will focus on departures from the recommended maximum growth rates 
of  net  expenditure3  set  by  the  Council  under  Regulation  (EU)  2024/1263.  Council 

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OJ L 209, 2.8.1997, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/1997/1467/2024-04-30. 
OJ L 145, 10.6.2009, p. 1. 
According  to  Article  2(2)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2024/1263,  'net  expenditure'  means  government 
expenditure net of interest expenditure, discretionary revenue measures, expenditure on programmes of 

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(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

Recommendation  of  [DATE]  endorsing  the  medium-term  plan  of  Austria4  sets  the 
recommended maximum growth rates of net expenditure for Austria with 2025 as the 
initial  year,  in  annual  and  cumulative  terms.  The  assessment  of  compliance  with  the 
debt criterion can only be undertaken once the outturn data for 2025 will be available 
in spring 2026. This Decision, therefore, only concerns the excess of the ratio of the 
government deficit to GDP with respect to the reference value of 3% of GDP, in line 
with existing legal provisions.   

According  to  Article  126(5)  TFEU,  if  the  Commission  considers  that  an  excessive 
deficit  in  a  Member  State  exists  or  may  occur,  it  is  to  address  an  opinion  to  the 
Member State concerned and shall inform the Council accordingly. Having taken into 
account its report adopted pursuant to Article 126(3) TFEU and having regard to the 
opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee adopted pursuant to Article 126(4) 
TFEU,  the  Commission  concluded  that  an  excessive  deficit  exists  in  Austria.  On  20 
June  2025,  the  Commission  therefore  addressed  such  an  opinion  to  Austria  and 
informed the Council accordingly.5 

Article 126(6) TFEU states that the Council is to consider any observations which the 
Member  State  concerned  may  wish  to  make,  before  deciding,  after  an  overall 
assessment,  whether  an  excessive  deficit  exists.  In  the  case  of  Austria,  the  overall 
assessment leads to the following conclusions. 
According to the data provided by Eurostat on 22 April 20256, the general government 
deficit in Austria reached 4.7% of GDP in 2024, and general government debt stood at 
81.8% of GDP. In 2025, Austria’s general government deficit is planned to reach 4.5% 
of GDP.7 The Commission Spring 2025 Forecast8 projects a deficit of 4.4% of GDP in 
2025. The Commission’s report under Article 126(3) TFEU considered that the excess 
of the deficit over the Treaty reference value of 3% of GDP in 2024 was exceptional, 
due to a prolonged recession in 2023 and 2024. The excess over the Treaty reference 
value  is  not  close  and  is  not  temporary,  based  on  the  Commission  Spring  2025 
Forecast, which projects the general government deficit to remain above 3% of GDP 
in 2025 and 2026.  Thus, the deficit criterion as defined by the Treaty and Regulation 
(EC) No 1467/97 is prima facie not fulfilled.  

(7) 

In line with the requirements of Article 126(3) TFEU, the Commission also analysed 
all  the  relevant  factors  in  its  report  under  Article  126(3)  TFEU.  As  laid  down  in 
Article 2(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97, when assessing compliance on the basis 
of  the  deficit  criterion,  if  the  ratio  of  the  government  debt  to  GDP  exceeds  the 

the  Union  fully  matched  by  revenue  from  Union  funds,  national  expenditure  on  co-financing  of 
programmes funded by the Union, cyclical elements of unemployment benefit expenditure, and one-offs 
and other temporary measures. 

All EDP-related documents for Austria can be found at: https://economy-
finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-and-fiscal-governance/stability-and-growth-pact/corrective-arm-
excessive-deficit-procedure/excessive-deficit-procedures-overview/austria_en  
Eurostat  Euro  Indicators  published  on  22  April  2025  (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-
euro-indicators/w/2-22042025-AP),  in  accordance  with  Article  14  of  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No 
479/2009. 
Planned deficit as reported to Eurostat in the context of Spring 2025 fiscal notification. See: 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/government-finance-statistics/excessive-deficit-procedure/edp-
notification-tables  
European Economic Forecast - Spring 2025, European Economy-Institutional Paper, No 318, 19 May 
2025. 

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reference value, relevant factors shall be taken into account in the steps following the 
report under Article 126(3) TFEU and leading to the decision on the  existence of an 
excessive  deficit  only  if  –  before  these  relevant  factors  are  taken  into  account  –  the 
general government deficit remains close to the reference value and its excess over the 
reference value is temporary.  In the case of Austria, the double condition is not met. 
Therefore,  relevant  factors  are  not  taken  into  account  in  the  steps  leading  to  this 
decision. 

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

Article 1 

From an overall assessment it follows that an excessive deficit exists in  Austria due to non-
compliance with the deficit criterion. 

This decision is addressed to the Republic of Austria. 

Done at Brussels, 

Article 2 

For the Council 
The President 

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