Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Latvia, and Romania already exceeded the 3 percent budget deficit threshold and the EC foresees a worse situation for 2009. According to the European Commission website, Romania's deficit amounted to 5.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Ireland's deficit amounted to as much as 6.5 percent, while Latvia, Greece, France and Spain exceeded the threshold by 2-5 percentage points.
As Romania and Latvia are not in the euro-zone, they cannot be sanctioned financially, but the deadline for adopting the European Currency can be delayed. If EU recommendations are repeatedly ignored, European financing can be suspended. (NewsIn)
