The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice. Country-specific recommendations: Policy guidance formulated annually by Commission to Member States on how to maintain sound public finances. The recent external evaluation of the forecasting services (paper forthcoming) concludes that the forecasts are of a high quality and the forecast processes are efficient. It announced that it intended to use this margin in cases where the impact of a large fiscal adjustment on growth and employment would be particularly significant23. 53 In this context, comparing the EU aggregates with the United States and Japan has very limited value. It also does not apply to the unusual event clauses. Second, it should review the parameters in the table that sets requirements for adjustment (the so-called “matrix”) so as to ensure that MTOs are reached within a reasonable period of time. For Member States at their MTO yet with a worsening SB, a delay of one year may occur when assessing a Member State using this approach. Note: Croatia average requirements based on three years - 2015-2017. In order to facilitate its assessments, the Commission has developed a large body of procedures and methodologies. A clearer presentation of compliance results, based on criteria set in the recommendations, and an explanation of factors taken into account in the overall assessment, are also necessary in the Commission’s staff working documents (SWD) (paragraphs 104 to 106, 111 to 112). In this regard, there is no automaticity in the Regulation in reaching the conclusion of a significant deviation. The long term impact on growth should ultimately improve the long term sustainability of public finances. The structural reform allowance is no longer linked to the actual budget costs of the reform, but it is used as an “incentivizing instrument”. The corrective arm of the SGP is governed by a separate Regulation to the preventive arm. For the purposes of the preventive arm, the potential output estimates are produced by the Commission based on the EU commonly agreed methodology (for more on methodology see: “The production function methodology for calculating potential growth rates and output gaps”, European Economy, Economic Papers No. This sentence appears in the section dealing with the effects of the flexibility clauses, but seems to suggest that all Member States have to reach the MTO by the end of the SCP programme period. With the time for reaching the MTO extended, more than one recession might become possible. Of course, the fiscal rules are not perfect, with the increased complexity of the preventive arm being a legitimate concern.