Brussels, 24/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - Noting that Romano Prodi's recent speech in Berlin gave the impression that the European Commission wanted to interpret the Stability and Growth Pact more flexibly, the President of the European Parliament's EPP-ED group, Hans-Gert Pöttering, urged the President of the European Commission on Tuesday to defend the legally binding measures of the treaties guaranteeing the euro's stability. Pöttering added that the Commission is the guardian of the treaties and therefore must strictly abide by EU law. It would therefore be a serious mistake if any budget deficit exceeded the 3% of GDP mark or if any of the Stability Pact requirements on balancing national budgets were abandoned since future generations would have to pay the debts of the present. He said such an attitude would be a serious attack on the basic principles of European unification, based on rules of law. The President of the Christian Democrat group at the EP called on the Commission to urge national governments to make the necessary reforms to their social security systems rather than again suggesting that they can let their deficits continue into the future. Pöttering said he would be monitoring the European Commission in the next few months to ensure it defended the stability criteria and the spirit and the letter of EU legislation.