There is an agreement in the EU on new common rules for budget deficits and national debt. Representatives of the European Parliament and the governments of the member states successfully concluded long negotiations during the night, as the current Belgian EU Council Presidency announced.
In particular, the plans stipulate that the individual situation of countries will be taken more into account than before when setting EU targets for reducing excessive deficits and debt levels. At the same time, there should be clear minimum requirements for the reduction of debt ratios for highly indebted countries. The finance ministers of the EU member states had already agreed on this at the end of last year – but negotiations with the European Parliament were now necessary.