EU and Associate Members Confirm Importance of Budget Stability

Brussels, 27 January - Finance ministers from fifteen EU member countries and ten associate members discussed Monday medium-term budget policies in the EU and associate members. At a meeting in Brussels held in the framework of the structural dialogue, the ministers agreed that budget stability was a necessary condition for sustained economic growth, which is an important factor in consolidating budget policies ahead of the European Union's economic and monetary union (EMU). Several associate members have also started implementing similar stable-budget policies, bringing budget deficits below three percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), which is one of the conditions for entry into EMU. One of the first speakers in the debate was Slovenia's Finance Minister Mitja Gaspari along with his Hungarian, Finnish and Portuguese colleagues.