(22 Nov 2013) Finance ministers from the 17 nations that use the euro currency met on Friday for their first time to critique each other's spending plans for next year.
The meeting in Brussels was intended to help prevent the government overspending and miscalculation that plunged much of Europe's economy into recession.
At their closed-door meeting, the ministers addressed criticisms that the European Union's executive branch issued last week of each country's proposed 2014 budget.
French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said the meeting was a positive one.
"For the first time we take time to discuss between us on next year's budgets, about the sensitive points that may appear when they will be executed, and it allows us to prepare ahead stability programmes for the coming spring and to prepare a common strategy," he said.
Moscovici welcomed the fact that France's budget was in line with the recommendations of the European Commission.
"France is among the countries whose public finances budgetary situation is considered to be the most positive. All in all, the European Commission acknowledges the solidity of the governance of our public finances, approves the creation of the High Council of the public finances, validates our growth expectations, and strengthens the governmental strategy of a progressive and serious consolidation of our public finances," he said.
In a communique, the ministers said five countries whose 2014 budgets were deemed at risk of not complying with EU growth and stability rules - Malta, Spain, Italy, Finland and Luxembourg - expressed their "full commitment" to make the needed adjustments, or said they have already begun to do so.
"The Spanish government has put on the table its absolute commitment to fulfil its deficit on 5.8 per cent of GDP, and to fulfil its national reform plan," said Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos.
"The European Commission said that there was a risk of a tenth (0.1 per cent) in not fulfilling Spanish deficit target for 2014. That's less than a billion euro. And it was based on a projection of economic growth (of GDP). We say 0.7 per cent and they say 0.5 per cent. That's the divergence", he added.
Italy Finance Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni said Italy should not be grouped with other countries who might miss their deficit targets.
"They recognise that Italy is out of excessive deficit procedure, while a few days ago the Commission's statement regrouped us with other countries based on the terms of debit balance. But the Commission did not remember that we are out of excessive deficit procedure, so we have to make a difference between the 3 percent target countries and the ones on a 6.5 percent target," he said.
In their communique the ministers said that government deficits in the 17-nation currency zone, which averaged close to 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product this year, are expected to fall below that benchmark next year.
With that, both the debt and deficit projections for the euro area are considerably more positive than for other major economies, including the United States and Japan, they said.


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