Deficit Procedure: Marterbauer Expects Start on July 8

Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer (SPÖ) assumes this, as he explained in the Federal Council on Tuesday. He has "absolutely no fear" of the deficit procedure, Marterbauer emphasized once again. Such a procedure essentially means an ongoing exchange of information and certainly not "administration".

Marterbauer Expects Start of Deficit Procedure on July 8

Marterbauer also did not expect any impact on Austria's rating in response to an urgent inquiry from the FPÖ. Since the presentation of the double budget, the interest rate spreads of Austrian government bonds compared to those of Germany have even slightly decreased. He did not want to overemphasize this, "but it shows that our budget plan is credible," said the finance minister, defending the consolidation measures against criticism once again as "urgently necessary", as economically gentle as possible, and as fair as possible.

The reason for the expected deficit procedure is that Austria, with its budget deficit of 4.7 percent of GDP last year and the planned 4.5 percent this year, exceeds the allowed three percent limit. Deficit procedures are currently underway against Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania. The federal government aims to exit the EU deficit procedure by 2028.

(APA/Red)

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