In the last three years the containment of the budget deficit has been entrusted mainly to one-off measures, which are useful in a period of transition and sluggish economic growth; it is now necessary to return to a lasting structural reduction of the gap between expenditure and revenue.
The primary surplus has progressively contracted; this year it is likely to be around 2 per cent of GDP, notably less than the value of 5.5 per cent set in order to participate in the Monetary Union and to ensure a significant rate of debt reduction in relation to GDP.