European Commission gives positive marks to Greece's draft budget for 2026

Presenting the review of national budgets, Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis responsible for Economy & Productivity, Implementation & Simplification, noted that of the 20 eurozone member-states, 17 submitted their draft budgets for 2026. The exceptions were Austria, Belgium, and Spain.

For the 16 countries for which the Council has activated the national escape clause, Dombrovskis said that the assessment took into account the flexibility of raising defense expenditures. He then noted that the annual draft budgetary plans of 12 countries are compliant with the recommended net expenditure path. These are: Luxembourg, Finland, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Italy, Slovakia, France, Cyprus, Ireland, and Portugal.

Speaking on Alert Mechanism Report, the EU commissioner said that there will be "in-depth reviews for the 7 member-states that were already identified as experiencing imbalances or excessive imbalances in previous cycles." Among them are Greece, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, the Netherlands and Sweden.

No new member-state has been identified to undergo an in-depth review, he added.