Commission adopts Opinion on Austria’s updated Draft Budgetary Plan

The Commission has today adopted its Opinion on the updated draft budgetary plan (DBP) of Austria, finding that a robust assessment of compliance with the provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact is currently not feasible. The updated DBP is based on a macroeconomic and budgetary outlook formulated before the escalation of the coronavirus pandemic and is, therefore, no longer realistic.  The Austrian authorities are encouraged to present an update of the information given in the DBP in a technical update of the stability programme it has presented in April 2020. The Commission will make an assessment of Member States’ stability and convergence programmes against the provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact and issue recommendations, taking into account the activation of the general escape clause and the Commission’s upcoming spring 2020 forecast. The DBP presented by the Austrian authorities in March 2020 updated the no-policy change DBP submitted in October 2019 by the caretaker government on the basis of unchanged policies.