WROCLAW, Poland — The European Union’s 27 countries overcame a year of infighting to agree Friday to tougher budget rules that make it easier to punish overspending governments. But they failed to produce new measures that might contain the debt turmoil threatening it.
Although the new rules will not ease immediate market concerns over debt, they are a first indication that Europe’s states are willing to give up some sovereign powers to bolster confidence in the region.
In the years before the current crisis, many European states had broken the EU rule requiring deficits to be kept below 3 percent of gross domestic product. Under the new rules, it will be easier to put sanctions on governments that breach EU limits on debts and deficits because in most cases, a state would have to rally a majority of governments to stop the punishment. Until now, a majority was necessary to impose sanctions. The Associated Press
