1. Within two weeks of the adoption by the Commission of a report issued in accordance with Article 126(3) TFEU, the Economic and Financial Committee shall formulate an opinion in accordance with Article 126(4) TFEU.

2. Taking the opinion referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article fully into account, the Commission, if it considers that an excessive deficit exists, shall address an opinion and a proposal to the Council in accordance with Article 126(5) and (6) TFEU and shall inform the European Parliament thereof.

3. The Council shall decide on the existence of an excessive deficit in accordance with Article 126(6) TFEU, as a rule within four months of the reporting dates established in Article 3(2) and (3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 ( *3 ) . Where it decides that an excessive deficit exists, the Council shall at the same time make recommendations to the Member State concerned in accordance with Article 126(7) TFEU. The Council shall make its decisions under Article 126(6) TFEU public.

4. The Council recommendation made in accordance with Article 126(7) TFEU shall establish a maximum deadline of six months for effective action to be taken by the Member State concerned. Where warranted by the seriousness of the situation, the deadline for effective action may be three months. The Council recommendation shall also establish a deadline for the correction of the excessive deficit.

In its recommendation, the Council shall also request that the Member State implements a corrective net expenditure path which ensures that the general government deficit remains or is brought and maintained below the reference value within the deadline set in the recommendation.

Where the excessive deficit procedure was opened on the basis of the deficit criterion, for the years when the general government deficit is expected to exceed the reference value, the corrective net expenditure path shall be consistent with a minimum annual structural adjustment of at least 0,5 % of GDP as a benchmark.

Where the excessive deficit procedure was opened on the basis of the debt criterion, the corrective net expenditure path shall be at least as demanding as the net expenditure path set by the Council in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1263, and correct as a rule the cumulated deviations of the control account by the deadline set by the Council.

5. Within the deadline provided for in paragraph 4 of this Article, the Member State concerned shall report to the Council and the Commission on action taken in response to the Council’s recommendation under Article 126(7) TFEU. The report shall include the targets for government expenditure and revenue and for the discretionary measures on both the expenditure and the revenue side consistent with the Council’s recommendation, as well as information on the measures taken and the nature of those envisaged to achieve the targets. The Member State shall make the report public. The Member State may invite the relevant independent fiscal institution to produce a non-binding, separate report on the sufficiency of the measures taken and envisaged with respect to the targets.

6. The Council may decide, on a recommendation from the Commission, to adopt a revised recommendation under Article 126(7) TFEU where:

effective action has been taken in response to such recommendation and the conditions referred to in Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1263 apply, or

the conditions referred to in Article 25 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1263 apply.

The revised recommendation may, in particular, extend the deadline for the correction of the excessive deficit by one year as a rule.

( *3 ) Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2009 of 25 May 2009 on the application of the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community ( OJ L 145, 10.6.2009, p. 1 ).’;"

Article 4 is replaced by the following:

COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) 2024/1264 of 29 April 2024 amending Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure