of this Treaty are:
- 3% for the ratio of the planned or actual government deficit to gross
domestic product at market prices;
- 60% for the ratio of government debt to gross domestic product at
market prices.
ARTICLE 2
In Article 104c of this Treaty and in this Protocol:
- government means general government, that is central government,
regional or local government and social security funds, to the
exclusion of commercial operations, as defined in the European
System of Integrated Economic Accounts;
- deficit means net borrowing as defined in the European System of
Integrated Economic Accounts;
- investment means gross fixed capital formation as defined in the
European System of Integrated Economic Accounts;
- debt means total gross debt at nominal value outstanding at the end
of the year and consolidated between and within the sectors of general
government as defined in the first indent.
ARTICLE 3
In order to ensure the effectiveness of the excessive deficit procedure,
the governments of the Member States shall be responsible under this
procedure for the deficits of general government as defined in the first
indent of Article 2. The Member States shall ensure that national
procedures in the Budgetary area enable them to meet their
obligations in this area deriving from this Treaty. The Member States
shall report their planned and actual deficits and the levels of their
debt promptly and regularly to the Commission.
ARTICLE 4.
The statistical data to be used for the application of this Protocol shall
be provided by the Commission.

PROTOCOL
ON THE CONVERGENCE CRITERIA REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 109j OF
THE TREATY ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,
DESIRING to lay down the details of the convergence criteria which
shall guide the Community in taking decisions on the passage to the
third stage of economic and monetary union, referred to in Article
109j(1) of this Treaty,
HAVE AGREED upon the following provisions, which shall be annexed
to the Treaty establishing the European Community:
ARTICLE 1
The criterion on price stability referred to in the first indent of Article
109j(1) of this Treaty shall mean that a Member State has a price
performance that is sustainable and an average rate of inflation,
observed over a period of one year before the examination, that does
not exceed by more than 1 1/2 percentage points that of, at most, the
three best performing Member States in terms of p