Definition: Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP)

Category: General concept; Peer reviews

The Maastricht Treaty, which foresaw the creation of the Euro, organized the way multilateral fiscal surveillance is conducted within the European Union. This surveillance is based on the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP): it sets out schedules and deadlines for the Council, following reports from and on the basis of opinions by the Commission and the Economic and Financial Committee, to reach a decision that an excessive deficit exists in a Member State. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/excessive_deficit