Europe sets deadline to tackle bloated national debts
Europe set a deadline on Thursday to end economic pump priming with a pledge to tackle member states' bloated deficits in 2011, the keystone of exit strategies.
"We think that exit strategies, which must be prepared from today, can be applied during 2011," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads up the group of 16 countries that use the euro single currency.
Juncker's timetable was conditional on further improvement in economic data, which has already lifted France and Germany out of recession, with the 16 also expecting to record notional growth in the quarter that ended on Wednesday.
"The economic situation, for all it presents positive signs, remains very fragile," Juncker explained. "We have to wait for the European Commission's 2011 economic forecast (at the start of November).
"The time has not yet come... to withdraw fiscal stimulus in particular. We have to prepare exit strategies today of course, and see then whether they can be implemented in 2011.
"(But) the exit strategies have to be combined with structural packages, with the aim to enhance our growth potential.”
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