Such procedures aim to ensure EU member states maintain budgetary discipline and avoid excessive debt.
The bloc initiates the procedure if a member state's public sector deficit, known as the general government deficit in EU terminology, exceeds 3% of its GDP or if the public debt-to-GDP ratio surpasses 60%.
In Poland’s case, the general government deficit reached 5.7% of GDP in 2024.
Warsaw had requested its high defense spending to be considered a mitigating factor as it sought to bolster its security in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Poland currently has the highest defense budget of any NATO country as a proportion of national wealth, with expenditures slated to reach
4.7% of GDP next year.
Countries subject to the EU excessive deficit procedure have to present detailed plans of how they intend to remedy the situation. Warsaw had said it intended to exit the procedure by reducing its debt to the required level within four years. But it may now have more time.
In a statement obtained by Poland’s state news agency, PAP, a European Commission spokesperson said the bloc’s executive had taken into account several factors, with increased defense expenditures among the most important.
This is not the first time Poland has been subject to an excessive deficit procedure. Such measures were previously applied in 2004–2008 and 2009–2015.
