And we strongly disagree with the thrust of the pact on stability and growth.
He also reminds critics that the bank deplored the actions of Germany and France when, having broken the terms of the stability and growth pact in the first half of the 2000s, they successfully avoided punishment.
I would like to stress that thanks to a relentless application by the Commission of the Stability and Growth Pact, in 2007, the year before the global crisis, the E.U. had the soundest public finances in more than a decade with an average budgetary position of close to balance.
In March, a "lite" version of the stability and growth pact, the EU's fiscal rules, was agreed in Lisbon in order to accommodate budget-busters including Germany, and the drive to liberalise services was stymied.
First, the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact — which was the core of fiscal governance and the quid pro quo for the absence of a federal state in the euro area — were not respected.
Martin Boon of ICM said: "There are signs here of voters being anxious about a minority government surviving by scrambling around for minor parties' votes, preferring the stability of a formal coalition pact, and as the leader of a coalition that has lasted five years that would seem like good news for David Cameron".
"The commission deeply regrets that these proposals do not follow the spirit of the stability and growth pact," Pedro Solbes, the monetary affairs commissioner, said at a news conference here after a nine-hour meeting of finance ministers.
This is largely due to unsuccessful efforts to meet budgetary targets under the terms of the Stability and Growth Pact in the last two years.
Only a few years ago, when we debated the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact here, many of you could not imagine this, but the success of the Stability Pact and of the commitments made by the governments of the euro area Member States has resulted in there being no excessive deficits.
The wretched performance of the French and German economies compared with Britain's and the near-farce of the stability and growth pact have helped destroy the possibility of a positive outcome.
