Question for written answerE-003353-17to the CommissionRule 130Nikolaos Chountis(GUE/NGL)(16 May 2017)Subject: Primary surpluses in countries with debt in excess of 60% of GDP

Today, the debt level in 16 of 28 Member States (15 out of 27 excluding the UK) is higher than 60%. In accordance with the rules of economic governance, a Member State with debt in excess of 60% of GDP is required (a) to conduct minimal budgetary adjustments to achieve a cyclically-adjusted budget balance of 0.5% of GDP

Regulation 1466/97, as amended by Regulation 1175/2011, provides that ‘for Member States faced with a debt level exceeding 60% of GDP or with pronounced risks of overall debt sustainability, the Council and the Commission shall examine whether the annual improvement of the cyclically-adjusted budget balance, net of one-off and other temporary measures, is higher than 0.5% of GDP’.

, and (b) to reduce by 5% the difference between public debt and the reference value (60% of GDP)

Regulation 1467/97, as amended by Regulation 1177/2011, states that ‘when it exceeds the reference value, the ratio of the government debt to the GDP shall be considered sufficiently diminishing and approaching the reference value at a satisfactory pace in accordance with point (b) of Article 126(2) TFEU if the differential with respect to the reference value has decreased over the previous three years at an average rate of one twentieth per year as a benchmark, based on changes over the last three years for which the data is available’.

Given that those obligations are translated into specific primary surplus targets for each country:

What primary surpluses do Member States with debt in excess of 60% need to achieve in the next decade?

Specifically for Greece, and regardless of the objectives of the memorandum, what are the primary surpluses set out in the economic governance legislation?