Translation of "Seuil de variation " (French → English) :

3 year average of the current account balance as a percentage of GDP, with indicative thresholds of +6% and - 4%; net international investment position (NIIP) as a percentage of GDP, with an indicative threshold of -35%; the NIIP shows the difference between a country's external financial assets and its external financial liabilities; 5 years percentage change of export market shares measured in values, with an indicative threshold of -6%; 3 years percentage change in nominal unit labour cost(ULC), with an indicative thresholds of +9% for euro area countries and +12% for non-euro area countries. 3 years percentage change in real effe ...[+++]ctive exchange rates(REER) based on HICP deflators, relative to 41 other industrial countries, with indicative thresholds of­ -/+5% for euro area countries and -/+11% for non-euro area countries; the REER shows price competitiveness relative to the main trading partners.

private sector debt (consolidated) as a percentage of GDP, with a threshold of 133%; private sector credit flow as a percentage of GDP, with an indicative threshold of 15%; year-on-year percentage change in deflated house prices, with an indicative threshold of 6%; public sector debt as a percentage of GDP with an indicative threshold of 60%; 3-year average of unemployment rate, with an indicative threshold of 10%; year-on-year percentage change in total financial liabilities of the financial sector, with an indicative threshold of 16.5%.

In this context, provision should also be made for periodic reviews of the thresholds expressed in euro so as to adjust them, where necessary, in line with possible variations in the value of the euro in relation to the SDR.

In this recommendation, the Council stated that "the French government should take all the appropriate measures in order to ensure that the general government deficit does not breach the 3% of GDP threshold in 2003", and that "adopting measures apt to improve the cyclically-adjusted budgetary position by at least 0,5 percentage point of GDP would not only reduce the risk for the general government deficit to breach the 3% of GDP threshold in 2003, but also contribute to resuming a budgetary consolidation path towards a close to balance position as from 2003".

According to this recommendation: (i) The French government should take all the appropriate measures in order to ensure that the general government deficit does not breach the 3% of GDP threshold in 2003; (ii) Adopting measures apt to improve the cyclically-adjusted budgetary position by at least 0.5 percentage point of GDP would not only reduce the risk for the general government deficit to breach the 3% of GDP threshold in 2003, but also contribute to resuming a budgetary consolidation path towards a close to balance position as from 2003; (iii) Continuous adjustment in the underlying budgetary position by at least 0.5% of GDP per ye ...[+++]ar should be pursued also in subsequent years in order to achieve the medium-term budgetary position of close to balance or in surplus by 2006.

More extensive privatisation of public enterprises could make a useful contribution in this context; the Commission estimates that the structural (cyclically adjusted) deficit corresponding to the deficit target of 0.8% of GDP in 2001 should be sufficient to provide a safety margin for the Greek economy to remain within the Treaty reference value of 3% of GDP, while allowing for normal cyclical variations; structural reform is needed in order to improve the efficiency of the Greek economy, particularly in its large public sector.