EU finance ministers at their Ecofin council meeting today urged Ireland to address its public spending or to improve its expenditure control in the medium term.
In its opinion on the updated stability programme for Ireland, the council of finance ministers said it regrets that the updated programme does not present any plans to address these issues.
The ministers also urged Ireland to ensure that compliance with the pact is continued throughout the programme period after noting that the general government surplus for 2001 is expected to be close to 1.5 per cent of GDP, making it 2.5 percentage points lower than budgeted.
The ministers said they "regret" this under-performance.
They urged Ireland to ensure that the budgetary stance for 2002 is neutral after noting that the targeted outcome for the general government balance to be neutral in 2002 is subject to a number of risks.
They noted that recent increases in the rate of current and capital spending, "motivated by a desire to tackle infrastructural needs and public service deficiencies cannot be sustained without appropriate action on the revenue side".
AFP