LUXEMBOURG — European Union nations vowed Tuesday to start cutting debt by next year at the latest and to tighten oversight of one another’s finances to regain credibility with markets and rein in the debt crisis.
All but a handful of countries in the 27-nation bloc are violating EU deficit limits, and their ability to reduce debt is crucial to maintaining trust in their economies, keeping borrowing costs down, avoiding national defaults and restoring faith in the 16-country euro.
Despite the troubled outlook, the currency union is set to grow after finance ministers on Tuesday cleared Estonia to join next year.
Estonia will enter a currency union that is facing an identity crisis.
Nations are making sweeping budget cuts that they have warned will change people’s way of life and are desperately trying to improve coordination among their economies.
The Associated Press
