Brussels, 27/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission repeated on Tuesday that it had no plans to modify the provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact, which imposes budget discipline on the Member States, and added that it was "taking note" of all suggestions, in particular those submitted by Italy, which supports an easing of the rules.
"We have clear definitions of what constitutes public expenditure (....). That does not keep a Member State from making suggestions from time to time, offering new ideas or new ways of seeing things," explained Romano Prodi's spokesman, who asserted that there were no plans to alter the Stability Pact. The Commission preferred not to comment on Monday's remark by French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin hinting that France might not attain its goal of 3% growth in 2003, essential for it to respect its budget commitments. The Commission only stated that it would examine the French stability programme before the end of the year, taking all available information into account.
Rome seeks "minor adjustments"
In an interview published on Tuesday in the daily Corriere della Serra, Italy's Deputy Finance Minister Vito Tanzi speaks of "informal" talks between Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti, his fellow Ministers from the EU and the Commission, concerning a possible easing of the Stability Pact rules. Mr Tanzi states in the interview that Commissioner Pedro Solbes seems "receptive to our arguments". He recalls the proposals put forward by certain members of the Italian Government whereby public investments would not be taken into account in the budget calculation if they are profitable, i.e. if the resulting financial advantages are higher than the investment costs. Mr Tanzi notes in this connection that Germany and Austria have already excluded some investment expenditure and considers that Italy should be able to do the same. It will be recalled that Italy is expected to respect the limit of 3% of GDP, but that it will probably not lower its deficit, as it had hoped, to 1.1% of GDP in 2002 and then to 0.8% in 2003.