The financial situation of the eurozone countries has improved, which indicates the growth of the financial stability of the bloc, but the budget deficit of France and Spain keeps above the EU limit, and Italy still needs to solve its "urgent" problems, the European Commission said on Monday.
This assessment is part of a report prepared by the executive body of the EU every spring to advise the 28 member countries of the bloc on economic reforms and take disciplinary action against countries with an unbalanced budget.
The overall budget deficit of the eurozone, which includes 19 countries, fell to 1.5% of the block's GDP in 2016. It will decline even more in the current and next year, dropping significantly below 3% of GDP, stipulated by EU rules.
The overall deficit of the EU budget in 2016 was 1.7%. This indicator should also decrease.
The European Commission said that it wants to stop the disciplinary punishment procedure against Portugal and Croatia in connection with the improvement of their state budget. The decision of the European Commission should be approved later this year by the EU finance ministers.
However, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici called the recovery of the economy and budget "uneven."
The procedure of disciplinary action against France, the second largest economy of the eurozone, continues, as the country's budget deficit exceeds 3% of GDP. This indicator should decrease in 2017, but in a year it should exceed again the threshold level if the French government under President Emmanuel Macron does not accept new economic reforms in the coming months.
Procedures against Spain, Greece and the United Kingdom also continue, the European Commission said.
Italy's national debt is extremely high and second only to Greece, which is why the country is on the list of the bloc's members who need to solve "urgent problems".
The European Commission considered the additional budgetary measures adopted by Rome in April sufficient to ensure that this year the balance of the country was in line with the norms of the EU.