EU reaches agreement on spending rules

(ANSA-AFP) - BRUSSELS, FEB 10 - The European Parliament and member states reached an agreement early Saturday on reforms to EU budgetary rules aimed at boosting investment while keeping spending under control. The text modernises the current rules, known as the Stability and Growth Pact, created in the late 1990s, which limit countries' debt to 60 percent of gross domestic product and public deficits to three percent. "Deal!," the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, after 16 hours of talks. "I welcome the political agreement on our ambitious reform of the EU's economic governance," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
    "The new rules will enable EU countries to invest in their strengths while consolidating their public finances. This is our common growth path," she added. (ANSA-AFP).