Looser EU fiscal rules agreed, with 'country-specific' flexibility

EU finance ministers on Tuesday (14 March) agreed on new European debt and deficit rules. Economy commissioner Paolo Gentiolni ahead of the meeting had stressed the new rules would need to take into account "new realities" such as the energy crisis.

The measures ministers agreed on copied much of the previously existing rules deactivated by the EU Commission at the start of 2020 for being too strict to deal with the Covid-19 crisis. Crucially the three-percent deficit limit remains int...