国际英语新闻：EU sets deadlines for member states to cut budget deficits

BRUSSELS, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Wednesday set deadlines for some of its member states to cut their excessive budget deficits.

    The deadlines set are 2012 for Belgium and Italy, and 2013 for Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Portugal.

    It also extended the earlier deadlines set for France, Spain, Ireland and Britain by one year, that is 2013 for France and Spain,2014 for Ireland and financial year 2014-2015 for Britain, after concluding that the four countries have taken action to address the problem.

    The Commission rebuked Greece for not taking "effective action" to reduce its budget deficit which is likely to rise to 12.7 percent in 2009.

    "We all agree on the need to design clear and credible exit strategies to reduce public deficits and debts, which have been dramatically increased by the crisis," said Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

    "I believe the deadlines proposed today are appropriate and realistic," Almunia said.

    The EU's Stability and Growth Pact requires member states to keep their budgetary deficit under the 3 percent limit, which only allows temporary breach to a small extent under exceptional circumstances.

    However, the current economic crisis is taking a heavy toll on public finances in the EU due to falling revenues and rising social expenditure on the one hand, and the economic stimulus measures taken by the EU on the other hand.

    According to the Commission's autumn economic forecasts, the average budgetary position in the EU fell from minus 0.8 percent of GDP in 2007 to minus 2.3 percent in 2008 when the economic crisis was hitting hard. The figure is expected to triple to minus6.9 percent this year and to increase further to minus 7.5 percent in 2010.