Never has a straitjacket seemed so ill-fitting or so insecure. The Euro area’s "Stability and Growth Pact" was supposed to stop irresponsible member states running excessive budget deficits, defined as 3% of GDP or more. Chief among the restraints was the threat of large fines if member governments breached the limit for three years in a row. For some time now, no one has seriously believed those restraints would hold. In the early hours of Tuesday November 25th, the Euro’s fiscal straitjacket finally came apart at the seams.
The pact’s fate was sealed over an extended dinner meeting of the euro area’s 12 finance ministers. They chewed over the sorry fiscal record of the Euro’s two largest members, France and Germany. Both governments ran deficits of more than 3% of GDP last year and will do so again this year. Both expect to breach the limit for the third time in 2004. Earlier this year the European Commission, which polices the pa
A. sudden alarms.
B. substantial might.
C. extra efforts.
D. sheer reluctance.
我来回答: