German Finance Minister Mr Hans Eichel has welcomed European Commission President Romano Prodi's suggestion that changes to the European Union's Stability and Growth Pact should be made.
Mr Prodi said yesterday that the European Union needs to find a new balance between fiscal stability and promoting growth to overcome a crisis over the failure to enforce budget discipline.
Mr Eichel said this morning that discussions about the pact should focus more on economic growth."The Commission already has such thoughts. I am pleased about that," he said.
Mr Eichel repeated that the pact was still alive despite a compromise plan freeing France and Germany from disciplinary action over their excessive budget deficits.
The European Commission and EU president Italy clashed yesterday over whether European Union budget rules were dead or alive and whether they need rewriting.
Germany and France are set to break the pact's deficit cap for the third year running in 2004.