BRUSSELS—European Union countries broadly agree they need to change EU laws to allow slower debt reduction, move away from complex calculated indicators and come up with an EU fiscal framework that is actually respected, senior euro zone officials said.
The EU’s fiscal rules, called the Stability and Growth Pact, are to stop governments from borrowing too much to safeguard the value of the euro. But the rules have often been disregarded, leading in part to the 2010 sovereign debt crisis, with little attempt made to enforce them by applying financial penalties.
