The Minister for Finance Prof. Edward Scicluna discusses the process by which the European Commission evaluates the draft budgets submitted on 15 October 2015 by the 18 member countries which constitute the Eurozone.

Minister Scicluna explains that on the basis of this evaluation, countries can be request to enact additional measures to strengthen their respective budgets, if the Commission assesses that their structural effort to address the deficit is not enough.

The Minister for Finance notes that the Commission’s assessment of the draft budgets presented by some countries, among them Italy, Spain, France, and Belgium, is giving rise to considerable debate and disagreement regarding the way forward.

Minister Scicluna underlines that it would not be just if larger countries who are in breach of the Commission’s rules on deficit and debt be treated differently from smaller countries in similar situations.

He emphasises that Malta will keep repeating this message at council level so as to ensure that all countries in the European union are treated in the same manner.

– Monday, 8th December, 2014