EU ministers give green light to new stability pact

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 20 - European Union finance ministers have reached agreement on the new European Stability and Growth Pact, sources said on Wednesday.
    The Spanish rotating presidency of the Europea Council subsequently confirmed the news.
    ECOFIN has approved the reform of the Stability Pact, which provides for new rules that are "realistic, balanced and adapted to present and future challenges", the Spanish presidency said on X, formerly Twitter.
    European sources said at the meeting Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, speaking of a "spirit of compromise", declared himself to be in favour of the new Pact.
    Earlier in the day French finance ministry sources said Italy had "really won" the tug-of-war over the reform of the EU budget rules in terms of the compromise text that ECOFIN was due to examine in an extraordinary meeting by video conference.
    "It is a draft that we worked on with (Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo) Giorgetti" the source said, adding that the text took account of spending for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
    The French finance ministry stressed there was an "alignment" with the Italian Treasury on the extension from four to seven years for the debt-adjustment plans, which will take account of strategic investments and NRRP-related reforms and feature more "gradual" adjustments. (ANSA).