EU finance ministers dropped disciplinary action against Poland over its public finances Tuesday, finding that Warsaw had sufficiently brought its deficit under control, European officials said.
Last month, the European Commission recommended that the ministers withdraw the excessive deficit procedure against Poland, judging that the shortfall between revenues and spending was in line with EU rules. With a public deficit of 2.0 percent of output in 2007, the commission said that Poland had brought its fiscal shortfall well below an EU limit of 3.0 percent and estimated it would stay in line in 2008 and 2009.
EU member states hit Poland with the procedure shortly after the country joined the EU in May 2004 because the Polish deficit exceeded the 3.0-percent rule. It had been subject to the measure ever since.