If the Council decides that the policies of any country infringe the jointly agreed guidelines, it may issue the appropriate recommendations to the member state in question, and publish them as well (Article 99 (4), EC Treaty).
The Ecofin Council took advantage of that option last February, to censure the budget policy of the Irish Government and to request it to moderate the overheated pace of business activity. The Irish Government rejected that criticism, and refused to amend its budget plans, pointing out that it was running a large budget surplus and had a low level of government debt.