European Stability and Growth Pact must be revised – commissioner Gentiloni

The European Stability and Growth Pact must be revised, European Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said Monday.

In an interview with German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Gentiloni said the pact had been conceived at a moment of crisis and must now be rethought.

“We have to highlight that these rules were born in a particular moment, in the context of a crisis,” he said. “Now, however, we have emerged from this crisis”.

The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) is a set of rules designed to ensure that countries in the European Union pursue sound public finances and coordinate their fiscal policies. It sets a budget deficit to GDP ratio of 3% and a public debt to GDP ratio of 60% as parameters to which EU members must adhere or tend.  Gentiloni added that the EU also faces the challenges of the climate crisis, low growth and low inflation.

Via ANSA / Sueddeutsche Zeitung/ TgCom