Brussels, 22/03/2013 (Agence Europe) -Countries asking for more time to meet their budget commitments should have a “really good reason” for failing to meet their initial targets and also prove that they'll be able to introduce the extra measures required in the next few years, said the head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, on Thursday morning in a hearing with the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee. Commenting on France, which has already announced that it will be exceeding its 3% budget deficit target for 2013, Dijsselbloem said it would, like any other country, be judged by its peers. Dijsselbloem, who is the Dutch finance minister, said that the Netherlands would not miss its targets, contrary to what was announced last month. A new raft of measures will be introduced to limit the damage, explained Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Unveiling its Winter Economic Forecasts on 21 February (see EUROPE 10793), the European Commission said that it might be possible for some countries to be granted more time if growth deteriorates unexpectedly and the country has made the budget adjustments agreed upon in structural terms (in other words, not including the impact of the economic crisis). Olli Rehn said that in this case, the targets could be relaxed. Portugal was recently granted an extra year to bring its public deficit back below the 3% cut-off point (see EUROPE 10807).
Dijsselbloem agrees with the Commission, stressing the importance of structural reforms and budget correction as a way of generating economic growth. He said that the eurozone was entering a period of relative stability and he was working as fast as possible with his European counterparts to introduce improved macroeconomic policies, via, for example, the eurozone bank supervision mechanism, on which formal agreement was reached by Ecofin in December after only six months of talks (see EUROPE 10751). In the face of criticism from the MEPs, Dijsselbloem defended the agreement reached last Saturday on Cyprus (see EUROPE 10812). (EL/transl.fl)