FRANKFURT (MNI) – European Central Bank Executive Board member
Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell said in an interview published Friday that she
is confident that Eurozone states will take the necessary steps to
consolidate their finances.
She also told the Austrian magazine Format that the central bank
would not compromise on its goal of maintaining price stability.
Eurozone countries have presented medium-term budget plans and “I
am confident that member states’ governments will tackle these
consolidation programs credibly and ambitiously,” she said.
Solid public finances and price stability “were, are and remain”
the foundation of the currency union, she said. But “experience has
shown that the Stability and Growth Pact did not have the disciplining
effect on fiscal policy in member states that one had hoped for.”
Therefore, a “comprehensive reform of the fiscal policy rule book”
is needed, she argued. “In my view, it would be sensible to begin by
strengthening the enforcement and sanction mechanism at the European
level.”
The ECB’s pursuit of its primary goal of preserving price stability
is something that “we have done in the past and will stick to in the
future without compromise,” she stressed.
–Frankfurt bureau; +49-69-720142; frankfurt@marketnews.com
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