The 27 cannot agree on the fiscal rules at dawn and will continue the debate on Friday

BRUSELAS, 8 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ministers of Economy and Finance of the European Union will continue the negotiation on Friday morning to agree on the reform of the new fiscal rules that, after four years frozen by the pandemic, will once again limit the debt and deficit of the Member States, after the debate was settled without an agreement during the early hours of the morning, which lasted for about eight hours, until after 3 in the morning.

This has been confirmed to Europa Press by diplomatic sources who point out that "quite a bit of progress" has been made and that the agreement is "close", but also that more consultations are necessary from both a political and legal point of view, and that the Spanish presidency of the Council will reflect this Friday on the next developments, including the possibility of convening an additional meeting of ministers.

At the meeting, which took place in a "constructive" atmosphere, according to diplomatic sources, the economic vice president, Nadia Calviño, explained to her peers the compromise proposal presented by the Spanish presidency of the Council and which includes a minimum annual reduction of debt for those countries whose liabilities exceed 60 percent of GDP, one of the recurring requests of countries like Germany since the beginning of the negotiations.

After the initial explanation by Calviño, the ministers have taken the floor to outline their priorities and differences regarding the presidency's text in several rounds of contacts in which different approaches have taken place with changes to the initial text of the presidency.

The proposal, to which Europa Press has had access, requires an annual reduction of 1 percent of GDP for countries with a debt above 90 percent, as is the case of Spain, while it proposes an adjustment of 0. 5 percent annually for Member States with debt between 60 percent and 90 percent.

It also introduces a 'fiscal cushion' for countries with low deficit but high debt, which it will ask to reduce the deficit to have a 1.5 percent margin below the 3 percent limit to have room to respond to possible economic 'shocks'.

On the other hand, countries will be asked to exceed the reference value of 3 percent deficit, to which an excessive deficit procedure (EDP) will be opened, a "coherent" corrective net spending path " with a minimum annual adjustment of at least 0.5 percent of GDP.

However, diplomatic sources have indicated that the debate now is whether or not the structural adjustment of the debt will include interest, while France demands "flexibilities" on this figure, which it asks to lower to 0.3 percent to leave more room for reforms and investments since they assure that it is "the only point missing for agreement" after an "intense" negotiation between Paris and Berlin, protagonists of the main clashes.

Community sources also affirm that the ministers are aware of the "urgency" of agreeing on their position before the end of the year, since the new fiscal rules must continue their parliamentary process before the next European elections and it would be a "shame" not to achieve it. .