Mr Hans Eichel, German finance minister, yesterday criticised the European Commission's stance on the EU's stability pact as "devoid of all logic", in a stinging attack set to further strain Berlin's relations with Brussels.

The reproach came after the Commission said it would consider new measures requiring Germany to cut its budget deficit.

In a Financial Times article due to appear on Monday, Mr Eichel hit back at Brussels, arguing that the Commission was wrong to interpret the stability pact that underpins the euro as "a purely mechanical procedure".

He suggested that the Commission had provoked "avoidable and needless conflicts" with EU members over the pact.

He said it was "unacceptable for member-states which conform to the measures agreed in the Ecofin [the EU finance ministers' meeting] to be subjected to additional procedures and sanctions. This sort of discipline is devoid of all logic and contradicts the spirit of the pact."

Germany said it would exceed the stability pact's 3 per cent budget deficit threshold again next year. Mr Eichel argued Germany was doing its best to reduce its deficit, and should not be penalised.

The minister's comments came amid renewed signs of an economic recovery in the EU. GDP in the euro zone grew by 0.4 per cent in the third quarter from the previous period, according to Eurostat figures. This was the biggest quarterly rise since the second quarter of 2002. - (Financial Times Service)