BRUSSELS, Nov 28: The European Union’s revised fiscal rulebook faces a litmus test in the coming months when the European Commission takes action on the British, French, German and Italian deficits, economic affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Monday.

“In the next few weeks, the commission is going to make proposals for implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact for Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, the four biggest economies of EU,” Almunia told the European Parliament.

Earlier this year, the European Union relaxed its 1997 Stability and Growth Pact and made fiscal rules more flexible after France and Germany struck a painful blow to the previous guidelines by getting so-called excessive deficit measures against them suspended.

The reform was widely criticized by private economists for taking the bite out of the EU’s budgetary rules and generally weakening their credibility.

“Over the next few months, with the implementation of the pact to this group of member states, we will be carrying out a very important test ... It’s a litmus test,” Almunia said.—AFP