France, Italy see leeway on budget rules at EU summit
(Reuters) - France and Italy won support for a slightly more growth-friendly interpretation of European Union budget rules at a summit on Thursday after French President Francois Hollande challenged German-driven fiscal austerity.
The 27 EU leaders agreed, after debating how to overcome mass unemployment and recession unleashed by three years of the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis, to allow greater leeway for public investment when reducing government deficits.
"The possibilities offered by the EU's existing fiscal framework to balance productive public investment needs with fiscal discipline objectives can be exploited in the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact," the summit conclusions said.
Exceptions would have to be approved by the executive European Commission and fellow euro zone states, but Hollande and Italy's Europe minister drew encouragement from what they depicted as a concession.
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