Barroso Urges E.U. to Keep Cutting Debt

JAMES KANTER, STEPHEN CASTLE and NIKI KITSANTONIS
nytimes.com
March 11, 2013

The president of the European Commission on Monday called on E.U. leaders to stay the course on debt reduction and economic overhauls, as he sought to head off a rancorous debate on those issues when the leaders hold a summit meeting here this week.

“Steadfast implementation of reforms is beginning to deliver results in terms of current accounts and regaining competitiveness,” the commission president, José Manuel Barroso, wrote in a letter to the leaders of the 27 members of the Union.

He sent the letter accompanied by charts that showed Ireland and Portugal as having benefited from rigorous turnaround programs, but that also showed countries including France, Italy, Belgium and Hungary as still plagued by high labor costs, compared with their trading partners.

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This article was posted: Monday, March 11, 2013 at 4:07 pm

Tags: economics, foreign affairs

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