To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 24 February 1998, Official Report, column 132, on public borrowing targets, if the targets are binding on those states not entering Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union. [33211]

The excessive deficit procedure in Article 104(c) and Protocol No.5 of the Maastricht Treaty applies to all Member States, but a Member State that does not participate in Stage 3 of EMU cannot be fined even if its deficit or debt exceeds the reference values set out in Protocol No.5.