LUXEMBOURG — France has told Brussels it is “very concerned” about plans to exempt green investments from the EU’s public spending rules, two diplomats told POLITICO.
Paris joined Estonia, Finland and the Netherlands in blasting the European Commission’s new fiscal waiver to provide a cushion against rising energy costs when they met for a closed-door discussion of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg Thursday, said four diplomats at the meeting who were granted anonymity to discuss the topic.
Other countries urged “caution” over the EU executive’s exemption during the Eurogroup meeting, two of the diplomats said, after the bloc’s fiscal watchdog warned that bending the fiscal rules too much could imperil their credibility.
The Commission presented the waiver in early June to give some budgetary breathing space for countries contending with skyrocketing fuel prices due to the conflict in Iran.
