By Leigh Thomas | December 02, 2008 Article from: Agence France-Presse
FINANCE ministers from the 15 countries sharing the euro failed overnight to commit to the proposed €200 billion economic stimulus target.
However they agree that the Eurozone region needs a co-operative economic package to prevent a recession.
Downplaying the specific amount needed, Luxembourg Finance Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said the eurozone otherwise supported the European Commission's plans to ward off recession.
"I wouldn't overemphasise the figures, what is important is that everyone agrees with the general direction proposed by the commission,'' said Mr Juncker after chairing a meeting with his eurozone counterparts.
"Everyone agrees that we need a strong fiscal response."
With a recession looming, the European Commission has called for a sharp boost to public investment and social spending across Europe, combined with tax breaks
The overall package, a combination of national and EU programmes, is supposed to be worth a total of about €200 billion, or 1.5 per cent of the EU's GDP.
With many EU countries due to present their own stimulus plans soon, Mr Juncker said that it was premature to speak of an overall EU target as proposed by the commission.
"We have got to wait until all the national plans come in before we can get a figure,'' he said.
While there is consensus on the need to coordinate economic stimulus across Europe, countries such as Germany want to contribute only enough to get their own economies moving.
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, who has criticised the commission proposals as "ineffective populist measures,'' insisted that each EU country should be able to tailor its response to the crisis without having plans imposed from Brussels.
"We shouldn't copy what all other countries are doing, but we must coordinate among us,'' he said.
Some economists also have their doubts about the EU plan, noting that €130 billion would come from national plans in Germany, France, Britain and Italy and the rest from EU funding.
Many EU countries still have not announced all of the measures they plan to boost their economies, making it even more difficult to add up an overall EU fiscal stimulus figure.
