Even without wasting billions on illegal wars, Germany is now on record for failing four years in a row to meet the EU deficit limit of three percent GDP. Now the Council has approved a recommendation of the Commission that requires Germany to come up with a credible plan to meet the three percent limit in 2007 by July this year. Under the recommendation, Germany needs to achieve a cumulative improvement of at least 1 percent in 2006 and 2007 and an annual reduction of the structural deficit of at least 0,5 percent per year. To this end, a draft law aims to raise VAT rates from currently 16 percent to 19 percent from January 1 next year on. Eubusiness.com article, Council press release.
Posted by Karl-Friedrich Lenz at March 19, 2006 08:04 PM