Council opens excessive deficit procedure for Bulgaria

The Council today opened an excessive deficit procedure (EDP) concerning Bulgaria.

It also adopted a recommendation to Bulgaria outlining the net expenditure path and timeline that should be followed to put an end to its excessive deficit by 2029.

The EDP mechanism is designed to ensure that EU member states return to or maintain discipline in their governments’ budgets. Procedures are launched when a member state runs a government deficit exceeding a reference value of 3% of GDP, in accordance with Article 126(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The Council’s decision to open an EDP today is due to Bulgaria’s projected 2026 government deficit of 4.1% of GDP, which is expected to continue exceeding 3% of GDP in 2027. Bulgaria’s use of the national escape clause for defence spending under the stability and growth pact does not fully explain the excess above the 3% threshold.

In its recommendation, the Council stipulates that Bulgaria should therefore take effective action and present by 15 October 2026 the necessary measures to reduce its deficit. Bulgaria should also ensure that its nominal cumulative net expenditure growth rate does not exceed 4.2% in 2026, 7.7% in 2027 and 11.4% in 2028 and 15% in 2029.

Background

Member states must comply with budgetary discipline on the basis of criteria and reference values set in the EU Treaties: their deficit should not exceed 3% of their gross domestic product (GDP) and their debt should not exceed 60% of their GDP or be declining towards it at a sufficient pace. All member states have to respect these Treaty reference values.

If an excessive deficit occurs in a member state, the aim of the EDP is to prompt its correction by putting member states under enhanced scrutiny and providing recommendations for them to take effective action to correct the excessive deficit. Ultimately, the goal is to strengthen member states’ fiscal sustainability.

Once it launches an EDP based on a recommendation by the Commission, the Council also makes a recommendation to the member state concerned to take effective action to bring the situation of excessive deficit to an end within a set deadline.

In its recommendation, the Council requests that the member state implements a corrective net expenditure path which ensures that the general government deficit is brought and maintained below the 3% of GDP reference value within the deadline set in the recommendation.