Stabilitätspakt-Prozess: Kommission trägt kleinen aber wichtigen Sieg davon

Der Europäische Gerichtshof hat die schlussfolgerungen des Rates bezüglich der Nichteinleitung eines Haushaltsdefizitverfahrens gegen Frankreich und Deutschland aufgehoben. Im Urteil des Gerichtshofes hieß es, der Rat habe Verfahrensfehler begangen.

The ECJ has delivered its much awaited judgement on the controversial decision by the Council to effectively suspend an excessive deficit procedure against France and Germany. On the first count, the court ruling recognises the possibility of a de facto suspension of the rules because the Commission cannot bring an action for annulment of a decision as no decision was actually taken. But on the second count, it ruled in the Commission’s favour by saying that the procedure by which the conclusions were adopted was incorrect:

• Regulation 1467/97 sets out situations in which a decision to hold the process in abeyance could be taken – this was not one of those situations
• Voting rules for a decision to give notice to a country were used rather than voting rules for adopting a recommendation for a country to correct an excessive deficit