WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The euro zone will slow its budgetary belt-tightening to help reinvigorate economic growth, a top EU official said on Thursday, highlighting a policy shift the United States has long been pressing for.

“They are preaching to the converted,” EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The euro zone will now spread its fiscal consolidation efforts over more time to help reinvigorate economic growth, as the initial, radical efforts helped restore some market credibility, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said.

Faced with investor rebellion in 2010, when markets started refusing loans to some euro zone countries at sustainable rates for fear they would not be paid back, the euro zone had no other choice but to sharply cut borrowing and spending, he told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Financial leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies will consider next week in Washington a proposal to cut their public debt over the longer term to well below 90 percent of gross domestic product, a document prepared for the meeting showed.

The proposal, prepared by the co-chairs of the G20 Working Group on the Framework for Growth, follows agreement of the leaders of G20 countries in June last year to set ambitious debt reduction targets beyond 2016, when, under an earlier agreement from Toronto in 2010, debt was to stop growing.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Financial leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies will consider next week in Washington a proposal to cut their public debt over the longer term to well below 90 percent of gross domestic product, a document prepared for the meeting showed.

The proposal, prepared by the co-chairs of the G20 Working Group on the Framework for Growth, follows agreement of the leaders of G20 countries in June last year to set ambitious debt reduction targets beyond 2016, when, under an earlier agreement from Toronto in 2010, debt was to stop growing.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Financial leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies will consider next week in Washington a proposal to cut their public debt over the longer term to well below 90 percent of gross domestic product, a document prepared for the meeting showed.

The proposal, prepared by the co-chairs of the G20 Working Group on the Framework for Growth, follows agreement of the leaders of G20 countries in June last year to set ambitious debt reduction targets beyond 2016, when, under an earlier agreement from Toronto in 2010, debt was to stop growing.

DUBLIN, April 13 (Reuters) – Austria defied growing pressure
to follow Luxembourg in ending bank secrecy, after a group led
by Europe’s six biggest countries pledged to work together to
tackle tax havens.

Late on Friday, the finance ministers of Germany, France,
Britain, Italy, Spain and Poland announced their desire to
jointly push for more bank transparency, a message they will
take to the meeting of the Group of 20 top global economies in
Washington next week.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The European Union’s six biggest countries agreed on Friday to cooperate in the fight against tax havens, piling pressure on Austria to follow Luxembourg in ending bank secrecy.

The finance ministers of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain and Poland announced their plans to push for more bank transparency within Europe and beyond.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The European Union’s economic growth strategy has been a failure so far and unless bold steps are taken the economy will continue to stagnate, a study commissioned by EU finance ministers said.

The paper by Brussels-based Bruegel think-tank scholars Zsolt Darvas, Jean Pisani-Ferry and Guntram Wolff was the basis of discussions on the future of growth in Europe among the 27 EU finance ministers this week at informal talks in Dublin.

DUBLIN, April 12 (Reuters) – The European Union’s economic
growth strategy has been a failure so far and unless bold steps
are taken the economy will continue to stagnate, a study
commissioned by EU finance ministers said.

The paper by Brussels-based Bruegel think-tank scholars
Zsolt Darvas, Jean Pisani-Ferry and Guntram Wolff was the basis
of discussions on the future of growth in Europe among the 27 EU
finance ministers this week at informal talks in Dublin.

DUBLIN, April 12 (Reuters) – Austria dismissed calls on
Friday to follow Luxembourg in ending bank secrecy but pressure
grew as a group of Europe’s biggest countries prepared to
outline plans to tackle tax evasion.

It is said to deprives EU governments of 1 trillion euros
annually.

In blunt remarks on the sidelines of a meeting of European
ministers, Austria’s finance minister described any exchange of
information about account holders as an invasion of privacy and
criticised other countries for failing to tackle what she called
the real “hot spots” of money laundering.