Ireland disappointed by European Commission budget rules move

European Union president Ireland said on Wednesday it would have preferred the European Commission not to have launched legal action in a dispute over the application of budget rules to France and Germany.
In an interview with RTE state radio, Irish Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy described the matter as "a row over procedure rather than over substance".
But he said he believed EU governments and the Commission were still "a long way from sanctions" in their stand-off over the application of disputed Stability and Growth Pact rules against excessive budget deficits.
On a more positive note, McCreevy said the Commission's decision to go to court, taken on Tuesday, might at least clarify the issue for the future.
But he said he spoke for the majority of European Union finance ministers in expressing his disappointment that the Commission had decided to take the matter to court in a bid to show EU countries they had to abide by the rules.
"I as a politician, and I'm reflecting the view of the majority of the members states as president of the council of ministers, would have preferred that the commission would not take this particular action," he said.
"But it is a matter of great importance to the Commission, and perhaps it is a good thing in order to give legal certainty for the future."
McCreevy speculated on what might happen if the Commission lost its legal challenge.
"It would clarify the position here okay, but there may be other areas of the Commission's rules - a whole lot of other areas not relating to finance at all - that might be brought into some legal doubt," he said.
The Irish finance minister, one of the longest serving in the EU, acknowledged he had had doubts about the Stability Pact rules for some time.
"I think more account should be taken of size of country, the level of debt, the sustainability of public finances, how your pension systems are coping with ageing etcetera," he said.
The EU executive, responsible for enforcing the bloc's laws, has decided to seek a swift ruling by the European Court of Justice on a decision by European Union finance ministers in November to effectively let France and Germany off the hook for repeatedly breaking the EU's deficit limit.