Awwal 16, 1432 H/April 20, 2011, SPA -- Hungary, the European Union's current rotating presidency, said on Wednesday that a deal on economic governance reforms meant to shore up confidence in the eurozone could be struck before Poland takes over the EU helm on July 1, according to dpa. The message came in the wake of Tuesday's controversial committee vote in the European Parliament, in which the six draft pieces of legislation which make up the reform package were approved, despite opposition from centre-left groups. In a statement, the EU presidency welcomed the vote, stressed that the proposed reforms were a "crucial element" in tackling the eurozone's current woes, and pledged to do "its utmost to broker the deal between the institutions by June 2011." However, it recognized it was working towards "a very ambitious timetable." Four out of the six pieces of legislation - which, among other things, introduce tougher sanctions on countries breaching EU debt and deficit targets and foresee unprecedented levels of EU scrutiny on national economic policies - need parliamentary approval. A first round of negotiations between Hungary, representing EU governments, and the parliament, already took place on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, a request by centre-left EU deputies to put off the start of the talks until the draft legislation was voted on in plenary, to see if it could muster a larger cross-party support, was rejected. On Tuesday, members of the Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) committee agreed to tweak voting rules to make it more difficult for eurozone governments to stop sanction procedures being initiated against fiscally-profligate countries. But deputies disagreed on how strictly those countries' spending should be curbed - with the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (SD) and the Greens arguing they should be allowed to pursue "essential public investments." The idea was rejected by liberals, Christian-democrats and conservatives, who together hold a majority in the EU chamber. Toughened budget discipline and economic coordination is deemed essential to prevent eurozone countries from falling again into a sovereign debt crisis, which is currently gripping Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and threatens to spread further.
