L 107/24 Official Journal of the European Union 28.4.2005 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DECISION of 18 January 2005 establishing, in accordance with Article 104(8) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, whether effective action has been taken by the Hellenic Republic in response to recommendations of the Council in accordance with Article 104(7) of that Treaty (2005/334[EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 104(8) thereof, Having regard to the recommendation from the Commission, Whereas: 0J 0 In accordance with Article 104 of the Treaty, Member States are to avoid excessive government deficits. The Stability and Growth Pact is based on the objective of sound government finances as a means of strengthening the conditions for price stability and for strong sustainable growth conducive to employment creation. The Stability and Growth Pact includes Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 of 7 July 1997 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure (1), set out in Article 104 of the Treaty, in order to further the prompt correction of excessive general government deficits. The Amsterdam Resolution of the European Council on the Stability and Growth Pact of 17 June 1997 (3 solemnly invites all parties, namely the Member States, L 209, 2.8.1997, p. 6. C 236, 2.8.1997, p. 1. the Council and the Commission, to implement the Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact in a strict and timely manner. By Decision 2004/917/EC (’) of 5 July 2004, the Council decided, in accordance with Article 104(6) of the Treaty, that an excessive deficit exists in Greece. The Council, in accordance with Article 104(7) of the Treaty and Article 3(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97, adopted a recommendation establishing the deadline of 5 November 2004 for the Greek Government to take measures to bring the existence of an excessive deficit to an end in 2005 at the latest. In that recommendation the Council recommended the Hellenic Republic to put an end to the present excessive deficit situation as rapidly as possible and by 2005 at the latest and to take corrective measures mainly of a structural nature amounting to at least 1% of GDP, cumulated over 2004 and 2005, and preferably equally distributed between the two years. In addition, the Council recom- mended the Hellenic Republic to ensure that the government gross debt ratio diminishes sufficiently and approaches the reference value at a satisfactory pace, while paying particular attention to factors other than net borrowing which contribute to the change in debt levels. Finally, as a matter of urgency, the Council also recommended the Hellenic Republic to correct the serious deficiencies revealed on budgetary statistics, through the improvement of the collection and processing of general government data. () O] L 389, 30.12.2004, p. 25.