EU debt rules need to be modified: German finance minister

BERLIN: Changes to European Union debt rules proposed by the European Commission cannot be approved as they stand, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Tuesday, as finance ministers met in Brussels to discuss fiscal reform in the bloc.

Countries with high levels of debt following the COVID-19 pandemic should return to sustainable stable public finances, Linder said. "Sustainability isn't only an ecological issue, but also an economic one," he added.

For Germany it is an imperative to see "comprehensible, credible, predictable paths to reducing deficits and debt levels," Lindner said.