Pier Carlo Padoan and of economy ministers from Spain, France and Portugal sent a tough letter to the attention of Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici: I'The EU is wrong in calculating the structural deficit, and therefore the budgets.
The senders of the letter ask the Commission to consider the current economic conditions – resulting from an extended period of low inflation, low nominal growth, high unemployment – to define “significant changes in the methodology for estimating potential growth and the gap with respect to actual growth”.
In evaluating the budgetary policies of the States and in implementing measures and sanctions against them, the Commission should - according to what the ministers of the Mediterranean countries maintain - "keep in mind the methodological limits".
Despite the recovery is continuing, albeit at a modest pace, the aftermath of the crisis is still visible, and the effects of current fiscal policies could negatively affect the long-term growth potential. Precisely for this reason, what the ministers of Italy, France, Spain and Portugal they argue is that “all available economic policy instruments must be used to ensure that growth and employment return to sustainable levels".
