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The European Commission’s spring forecast projects Malta’s deficit will peak at 3.7 per cent in 2013, “1 per cent more than the government’s revised projection of 2.7 per cent, announced in the wake of the last general election”, writes The Malta Independent.
Brussels will therefore place “Malta under the excessive deficit procedure for two years,” reports the daily, quoting Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, before adding that —
the finance minister said that he tried to bring the Commission round by arguing that the country had been in election mode for months, resulting in less fiscal revenue. He explained how the Commission shunned this argument, as elections do not count as a ‘temporary economic shock,’ as defined by the EU treaty.
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