The Economic and Financial Affairs Council adopted a decision establishing that Hungary has failed to comply with the 2009 Council's recommendation on measures to be taken in order to bring its government budget deficit below the EU's reference value of 3% of GDP. Failure to comply with the Council's recommendations can lead to the suspension of cohesion fund commitments.

The Council adopted a decision in which finds that Hungary's action on excessive deficit is still insufficient. Hungary has failed to comply with the Council's recommendation on measures to be taken in order to bring its government budget deficit below the EU's reference value of 3% of GDP. The Council found that while Hungary has formally respected the reference value by 2011, it has not done so on the basis of a structural and sustainable correction, and that therefore its response to the Council's July 2009 recommendation has been insufficient. Hungary is one of the six Member States which are close to benefit of the top up of co-financing rates.

According to the Commission, it is expected that Hungary's general government balance turned into a 3.6% of GDP surplus in 2011 but only thanks to one-off revenues of over 10% of GDP, mainly linked to the transfer of pension assets from private pension schemes to the state. The Commission warns that without these, the deficit would have reached 6% of GDP, while the structural deficit has deteriorated as well.

In 2012, the deficit is projected to reach 2.8% of GDP, says Commission's autumn economic forecast, only falling short of the 3% reference value thanks to one-off revenues. Hungary is not a member of the euro area, thus it cannot face sanctions under the excessive deficit procedure. However, for beneficiaries of the EU's cohesion fund, such as Hungary, failure to comply with the Council's recommendations can lead to the suspension of cohesion fund commitments.