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102030FiscalpolicyrulesintheEUlaw
Thebestknownexamplesofthenumericalrulesoffiscalpolicy
arethesolutionsadoptedinthelawoftheEuropeanUnion.When
buildingupthesingle-currencyareainEurope,therewasaclear
awarenesswithinpoliticalcirclesthatasubstantiallooseningof
theMemberStates’fiscalpolicymighthaveanegativeimpacton
thefunctioningofthecommoncurrency.Thereemergedane-
cessitytoincorporate,intheEUlegalframework,someregula-
tionsthatwouldminimisesucharisk.Thisendisservedbythe
budgetarycriteriaofconvergence,asprovidedforinArt.140
para.1oftheTreatyoftheFunctioningoftheEuropeanUnion
(consolidatedversion:OJC83of30.03.2010,p.47)(hereinafter:
theTreaty).Undertheaforementionedprovision,membership
oftheEurozonemayonlyincludethoseEUMemberStatesthat
willlimittheplannedoractualdeficitanddebtoftheso-called
sectorofcentralgovernment(butalsoregionalandlocalgovern-
ment)institutionsdownto3%and60%GDPrespectively.Asre-
gardsthedebt,asingleexceptionwaspermitted,though.Astate
thathasexceededthereferencevaluesmaybecomeamember
oftheEurozone,providedthatthedebttoGDPratioisdecreas-
ingsatisfactorily,nearingthereferencevalueatasatisfactory
pace.TheexclusionwasincorporatedintheTreatyforpragmatic
reasons;whenenactingtheregulationsconcerningthecriteria
fortheadoptionofthesinglecurrency,itwasclearthatinthe
foreseeablefuturemanystateswouldnotbeabletoreducetheir
publicdebtdowntothetargetedlevel.
TheTreatyalsourgesonallMemberStatestoavoidanexcessive
deficitwithinthesectorofgovernmentalandself-governmental
institutionsandsetsupaprocedureregardingstatesthatdonot
meettherequirement,ortheso-calledprocedureofexcessive
deficit.ProvisionsoftheTreatyarefurtherspecifiedinProtocol
12ontheExcessiveDeficitProcedure.Itsetsupreferencevalues
forthedeficitanddebtofthesectorofgovernmentalandlocal
government-relatedinstitutionscompatiblewiththoseofthe
convergencecriterialevel.
ThesolutionscontainedintheTreatyarereinforcedbytheso-
calledFiscalStabilityTreaty(hereinafter:thePact),composedof
threeelements:theResolutionoftheEuropeanCouncilonthe
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PARTI.FINANCIALPOLICYOFTHEEUROPEANUNION
