The European Union's Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Pedro Solbes had tough words to say to Italy, France, Portugal, and Germany ahead of today's EU gathering.
Italy recently became the latest eurozone country to attempt to loosen the provisions of the EU's Stability and Growth Pact, announcing last week that it would be implementing a tax-cutting programme, and would therefore be unable to bring its budget into balance by the agreed deadline of 2004.
According to a Reuters report on Thursday, the Italian government has now amended its earlier announcement, promising a budget deficit of 0.3% of GDP rather than the 0.5% previously predicted. However, the one-off measures necessary to achieve this have not impressed the Monetary Affairs Commissioner.
Speaking to the news service earlier this week Mr Solbes observed that: 'It is the same difference between the budget of someone who can count on a steady salary to buy his food, and someone else who has to sell his furniture, or the house.'
Portugal also came under fire over suggestions that its 2001 budget deficit hit 3.9%, which, if confirmed, would make it the first country to breach the eurozone ceiling of 3%.
The French government has also tested the limits of the pact recently, a fact which has attracted negative attention from the European Commission. Speaking to the Italian media this week, Mr Solbes announced his intention to stress again the need for a coherent attitude within the eurozone over fiscal policy:
'The Commission sees no reason to change the stability pact. Its mechanism works and must continue working, but it only works if everyone plays the game,' he said, adding that: 'I will tell (eurozone members) that if we are convinced that what we're doing together makes sense, the pact can continue working. If instead the agreements reached are violated the next day, as is happening now, then we should discuss (it).'
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