EU Stability and Growth Pact not dead, French finance minister insists
AFP, November, 2003
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TOKYO (AFP) — The European Union's Stability and Growth Pact underpinning Europe's single currency is not dead, French Finance Minister Francis Mer insisted two days after France and Germany flouted its strict public deficit rules.
"The spirit of the pact was respected and I do not agree with those who say that it is dead," Mer said Thursday at a conference on the first day of a three-day visit to Japan.
Eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels triggered an unprecedented crisis Tuesday with a deal suspending "for the time being" disciplinary measures against Paris and Berlin for failing to get their public deficits under 3.0 percent of gross domestic product, as required by the 1997 pact.
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The deal infuriated the EU's executive body, the European Commission, and Economic Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes denounced the agreement as being without "legal basis".
But Mer argued Thursday the Commission's ...
