Under the budgetary surveillance powers conferred by the EU Treaty, the European Commission today proposed to the Council to set 2013 as the deadline for the correction of the budget deficits in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Portugal. For Belgium and Italy, which will also have a deficit above 3% in 2009, the comparatively limited size of the deficits and the existence of high debt ratios calls for an earlier deadline of 2012. [more]