Recital (3) · Council Decision (EU) 2026/1385

(3)The excessive deficit procedure (EDP) under Article 126 TFEU, as clarified by Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 of 7 July 1997 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure^note, 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 European Union and the TFEU, sets out further provisions relating to the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure. Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009^note 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^note, 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 expenditure^note set by the Council under Regulation (EU) 2024/1263 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note. Council Recommendation of 8 July 2025 endorsing the medium-term plan of Austria^note 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.