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After more than a year of negotiations, EU finance ministers in December agreed on a joint position on a reform of the EU’s rules for national budgets, known as the Stability and Growth Pact.
The core of the proposal, which would see more flexibility for member states’ spending, still needs to be agreed with the European Parliament.
“The review of the economic governance framework has been a key commitment of this Commission, and the reform has long been due,” EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, said ahead of the vote, urging the Parliament and EU countries to quickly finalise negotiations.
“We all know the limits of the old rules, that are the existing rules, in the current uncertain economic and geopolitical environment,” Gentiloni said, referring to criticism that the old rules impose unrealistic budget cuts on member states and therefore have not been sufficiently enforced.
The Parliament followed his call to move quickly, adopting its negotiating positions without any amendments with a large majority of 431 yes votes, 172 votes against and 4 abstentions.
“We need to take responsibility to protect the credibility of the Union and the stability of the eurozone by agreeing on new rules that are realistic and can be and will be respected and enforced,” Esther De Lange of centre-right EPP group, one of the two lead negotiators on the file, said during the debate.
“There will be those on the extreme right and the extreme left of the house that will vote against the mandate to deliver this better framework,” she said, adding: “no surprises there”.
“What I find more regrettable is the position of the Greens,” she added, blaming them for being “strong supporters of the euro, but against the very rules needed to keep it strong and stable”....
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