EU to tighten budget rules
The European Union's top economy official says the bloc is tightening its budget rules to prevent future crises.EU Commissioner Olli Rehn said he would publish recommendations next month on ways to toughen budget rules for the16-nation Euro Zone that has been roiled by the Greek economic crisis."The latest developments in the European economy in the euro area ... have clearly shown that there is an ... urgent need to reinforce economic policy coordination and ... surveillance in the euro area, in the European Union as well," he said.Rehn spoke just days after the European Union threw Athens a $40-billion lifeline in the form of low-interest loans, should it need it.But London School of Economics Professor Iain Begg says the European Union does not need new budget rules, but simply to enforce the ones it has."The rules themselves probably do not need much reform. It is mostly in the implementation, which has been rather poor over the last four or five years before the crisis broke, with many countries too ready not to follow the prescribed rules," he said.