EU May Have Tougher Rules On Deficits

The ECB has pressured EU officials to be hard on nations that miss budget targets. The plan may be unrealistic with some much of the region in recession. Half of budget targets is austerity. The other is GDP growth. The region’s weakest economies cannot control the second

Bloomberg reports that

European Union governments set tougher rules on budget deficits in the latest draft of a planned fiscal treaty, bowing to some objections raised by the European Central Bank.

The pact will require a centralized “correction mechanism” to be triggered “automatically” in cases of “significant” deviations from a target structural deficit of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to the draft