Finance
EU executive starts disciplinary steps against Austria over budget deficit
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 4, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 4, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
The EU has begun disciplinary steps against Austria for its budget deficit, which exceeds EU limits, potentially leading to fines.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission started on Wednesday disciplinary steps against Austria over the country's budget deficit that exceeds EU limits, a procedure could potentially end in fines.
Austria had a budget deficit of 4.7% of GDP last year, well above the European Union's upper limit of 3% of GDP. The excessive budget gap is not temporary -- the Commission forecasts it will be 4.4% of GDP in 2025 and 4.2% in 2026.
"The Commission will propose to the Council to open an Excessive Deficit Procedure for Austria," EU European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said.
Unless the deficit is corrected within the time frame set for Austria by the Commission and EU finance ministers, the excessive deficit procedure can end up in fines for Vienna.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski)
The European Commission started disciplinary steps against Austria due to its budget deficit exceeding EU limits.
Austria had a budget deficit of 4.7% of GDP last year, which is well above the EU's upper limit of 3%.
If Austria does not correct its deficit within the specified time frame, the excessive deficit procedure could lead to fines for Vienna.
The EU European Economic Commissioner mentioned is Valdis Dombrovskis.
The Commission forecasts that Austria's budget deficit will be 4.4% of GDP this year.
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