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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (22581)	3/10/2005 9:45:40 AM
From: The Wharf	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 81049

EU Nations Deadlocked on Euro Rules Reform Tuesday March 8, 10:50 am ET By Robert Wielaard, Associated Press Writer With Two Weeks Until Deadline, EU Nations Deadlocked on Euro Currency Rules Reform BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The 25 European Union nations emerged from two days of talks Tuesday deadlocked in their bid to ease the monetary rules designed to ensure the stability of the euro currency. Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg premier who led the negotiations, said there may not be an agreement for the EU leaders to endorse when they meet in Brussels on March 22-23. He said there were fierce disagreements over how to reform the euro's Growth and Stability Pact, indicating the EU's new eastern members were resisting Germany's demand to loosen the monetary and fiscal criteria that underpin the euro's stability. Germany also found no support for its demand that the huge sums it has paid for German unification be included in a list of "relevant factors" that the European Commission should look at when it judges a country's economic performance. On Monday, Juncker unveiled detailed reform proposals reflecting the tenor of the negotiations to date. These retain the key limits on national budget deficits to 3 percent of gross domestic product and a debt of no more than 60 percent of GDP, but say if nations exceed that level the EU would consider mitigating conditions before violators would face warnings and sanctions. Extenuating circumstances the Commission should consider include a country's investment spending, structural reforms, research spending as well as "exceptional circumstances," such as natural disasters that trigger unforeseen public spending, according to the plan. He scheduled a new finance ministers meeting for March 20, two days before the EU summit. Since 2002, the year the euro came into circulation, France and Germany have defied legal action for their violations, rallying support from other countries for the view the European Commission is too strict in interpreting the Stability and Growth Pact. The stringency of the pact, which was adopted in 1997, was largely a result of Germany's own push for austerity because of worries that the EU's southern nations, especially Italy, needed strict rules to adhere to prudent public spending. Since 2002, Portugal, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Greece have been officially warned to bring their budget gaps into line. In 2004, the Commission sued EU governments for ignoring the euro's deficit rules. The EU high court voided the finance ministers' decision to abandon legal action against Germany and France, but instructed them and European Commission to find a way out to break the deadlock. C$ has downward projections on it and Euro has it's own problems and gold did a wee blimp up when this news came out. Here in CA property is very costly house in this area one week on market selling price for an original 950K. Most assuredly it will be remodelled into the 1.5 area. Economy is doing very well on upper end most assuredly there will be a push for an increase in minimum wage from the lower end for which this prosperity has not yet materialized. Very hard to determine at least to me as to which currency will prove to be the strong spot of the world base.