ECOFIN Council conclusions

24 January 2012

The Council updated its position on a draft regulation on OTC derivatives, with a view to concluding negotiations with the European Parliament in first reading. The Council also adopted a decision deeming action taken by Hungary to correct its excessive deficit to be insufficient.

Main results of the Council

In a recommendation to Hungary issued in July 2009, the Council set 2011 as the target year for reducing its deficit below 3 per cent of GDP, the EU's reference value for government deficits. Whilst Hungary formally met this target in 2011, this was largely thanks to one-off revenues amounting to over 10 per cent of GDP, mainly linked to the transfer of pension assets to the state. Consequently, the Council considered this not to be a structural and sustainable correction of the deficit, and therefore found that Hungary has failed to comply with its recommendations.

The Danish Presidency programme sets out the following objectives:

Full conclusions


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