The European Union’s excessive deficit procedure against Hungary should be lifted this year “as long as Brussels just looks at the numbers”, National Economy Ministry state secretary Zoltan Cséfalvay said on public television on Wednesday. The procedure against Hungary was launched after it joined the EU in 2004 because the country failed to keep its general government deficit under the 3% of GDP threshold. Cséfalvay noted that preliminary data published Tuesday show the general government deficit reached 2.0% of GDP last year, calculated with excessive deficit procedure methodology. Hungary must show that it can continue to keep its deficit under the 3% threshold, he said. He attributed the European Commission’s forecast for a 3.4% deficit this year to a low projection for economic growth. While the EC expects minimal GDP growth, the government sees the economy growing by 0.9% and puts the deficit at 2.7% of GDP, he explained.
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