The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) was agreed to at the Dublin European Council summit in December of 1996, and was meant to clarify the excessive deficit procedure of the Maastricht Treaty, once member states had joined Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The SGP itself consists of 3 components: i) 2 European Council regulations (1466 and 1467/97); ii) a resolution/directive (17/6/97, #26); and iii) an opinion of the monetary committee (“Opinion on the content and format of stability and convergence programme E, 12 October, 1998). The first Council regulation (1466/97…