PARIS: Heavyweights Germany and France have agreed on a joint proposal in the debate on the reform of EU debt and deficit rules.
Dpa learned late on Tuesday that this is to be presented to an extraordinary meeting of EU finance ministers on Wednesday.
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner had travelled to Paris for a meeting with Franch Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire to work through the sticking points between the two countries.
“Tonight we have a 100 per cent agreement with @c_lindner on the new rules of the Stability and Growth Pact: excellent news for Europe,“ Le Maire said late on Tuesday on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. He said the agreement guaranteed healthy public finances and investment in the future.
“Just had a productive talk with my friend @BrunoLeMaire in Paris,“ Lindner said on X, adding that France and Germany were “in agreement on the key elements” of the Economic Governance Review: “Safeguards for lower deficits and debt-levels, incentives for reforms and investments.”
“This is a chance for a political agreement at the #ECOFIN tomorrow,“ Lindner said.
EU finance ministers have been struggling for months over new regulations for debt reduction. The negotiations are based on a legislative proposal made by the European Commission in April, which envisages individual approaches for each country instead of standardised debt reduction requirements.
Germany and France have been at loggerheads over how strict future rules should be.
Berlin has been insisting on standardised minimum debt and deficit reduction targets for highly indebted countries using the euro currency, a call long dismissed by Paris.
The current rules stipulate that debt must be limited to a maximum of 60 per cent of economic output and budget deficits must be kept below 3 per cent of gross domestic product.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine, the bloc’s strict debt and deficit rules are suspended until the end of the year. – Bernama, dpa
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner – REUTERSPIX
