STRASBOURG (MNI) – The new fiscal rules adopted by EU leaders last
week will not be enough in and of themselves to bring Europe out of the
crisis, because more measures to boost growth and employment are also
needed, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on
Tuesday.
“The problems in the euro area are not only fiscal but financial,”
Barroso told members of the European Parliament. A “commitment to fiscal
discipline is essential,” but “stronger competitiveness and growth
enhancing measures are key to restoring the confidence of investors and
above all citizens,” he said.
“We cannot build our economic union just on discipline and
sanctions,” he added.
The 17 leaders of the Eurozone last week agreed to quasi-automatic
sanctions for countries that fail to balance their budgets and to
expedite the approval and implementation of new laws that would give the
European Commission the authority to vet national budgets. The EU’s ten
other members, with the exception of the UK, agreed either to sign up
for the new “fiscal compact” or to consider it after consulting their
parliaments.
Barroso and the European Commission have repeatedly emphasized the
need for crisis-hit countries like Greece, Portugal and Italy to tackle
deep-rooted weaknesses in their economies, such as inflexible labour
markets, to boost their anemic economic growth rates and restore fiscal
health.
–Brussels bureau: +324-9522-8374; pkoh@marketnews.com
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