The European Commission said today there was no case of "particularly serious non-compliance" which would oblige it to consider a negative opinion on the draft budgetary plans sent by EU states.

Addressing the daily midday briefing, Commission vice-President Jyrki Katainen remarked that it was only the second time that the Commission was assessing draft budgetary plans of euro area member states, in line with the strengthened budgetary coordination rules introduced last year.

Member states, including Malta, were required to submit their plans by October 15 and the Commission has to adopt an opinion by November 30.

However, the Commission was bound to give its feedback by today and specify "particularly serious non-compliance with the budgetary policy obligations laid down in the Stability and Growth Pact”.

Over the past two weeks, consultations were carried out with a number of states, including Malta, which was asked to specify the indirect taxation measure proposed for its forthcoming Budget.

In some cases, the aim of these consultations was to highlight initial concerns related to the draft budgetary plans they had submitted.

In others, it was simply to request further information. Some member states changed their budgetary plans at the last minute.

“In all cases, member states have responded constructively to our concerns,” he said.

While reiterating there was no case of "particularly serious non-compliance", Mr Katainen said this did not mean that all draft budgetary plans would necessarily be found to be in full compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact.

“We are not prejudging the outcome. We will only know this once we have completed our detailed assessment in the coming weeks,” he said.

This assessment will be based on the Autumn Economic Forecast and will take into account:

- the Commission's view of the macroeconomic outlook;

- an assessment of measures taken; and

- risks to budgetary implementation.

The opinions would highlight whether any additional or replacement measures would be needed to ensure full compliance with the Pact. They would be adopted by the new Commission. Subsequently they would be discussed by the Eurogroup.

The Commission might need to adopt steps under the Excessive Deficit Procedure for some states, Mr Katainen said.