Brussels, January 2012 - Cyprus’s fiscal policy has met the approval of Olli Rehn, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs.

Speaking at a press conference on Excessive Deficit Procedures on 11 January 2012, the EU Commissioner said that following a thorough analysis, the Commission concluded that Belgium, Cyprus, Malta and Poland have "taken effective action" in response to the Council recommendations to correct their excessive deficits, adding that “This is unfortunately not the case of Hungary.”

On Cyprus in particular, Rehn acknowledged that the island added two further consolidation packages in its 2012 budget before Christmas, in order to ensure the timely correction in the course of the year.

“With these very substantial decisions, Cyprus brought its deficit down from the prospected 5 % to 2.7 % this year. This shows the strong commitment and also the capacity of Cyprus to ensure the sustainability of its public finances.”

EU Commissioner, Olli Rehn