EU eases pace of austerity to support ailing economies
The European Union softened its demands for austerity on Wednesday when it gave France, Spain and four other member states more time to bring their deficit levels under control so that they can support their ailing economies. The EU Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, said the countries must instead overhaul their labour markets and implement fundamental reforms to make their economies more competitive.
The European Union softened its demands for austerity on Wednesday when it gave France, Spain and four other member states more time to bring their deficit levels under control so that they can support their ailing economies.
The EU Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, said the countries must instead overhaul their labour markets and implement fundamental reforms to make their economies more competitive.
Issuing a series of country-specific policy recommendations in Brussels, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that the pace of reform needed to be stepped up across the EU to kick-start growth and fight record unemployment.
“There is no room for complacency,” he insisted.
After Europe’s crisis over too much debt broke in late 2009, the region’s governments slashed spending and raised taxes as a way of controlling their deficits – the level of government debt as a proportion of the country’s economic output.