Brussels to get more budget powers under EU pact: draft

(BRUSSELS) - The EU's executive arm would gain the power to take a eurozone state to court for breaking deficit limits under a new draft of a pact being considered by governments to resolve the debt crisis.

The tougher budget rules would come into force after at least 15 of the 17 eurozone states have ratified the pact, according to the draft obtained by AFP on Thursday. A previous version called for just nine to sign it.

Britain is the only member of the 27-state European Union to have refused to join the effort to deepen integration, angering its partners at a summit last month. The nine other nations that do not use the euro are expected to sign up.

The "fiscal compact" will be discussed by EU leaders at a special summit on January 30 with the aim of adopting it at another meeting in March.

The EU decided to reinforce its rules after governments breached toothless budget rules for years, ignoring a deficit limit of 3.0 percent of gross domestic product and debt ceiling of 60 percent of GDP.

A previous version of the document did not directly refer to a role for the European Commission to take governments that violate budget rules to court, exposing them to possible sanctions.

The new draft says that the "Commission may, on behalf of Contracting Parties, bring an action for an alleged infringement of Title III before the Court of Justice of the European Union."

Title III says budgets must be balanced or in surplus, allowing only temporary deficits to take into account the impact of economic cycles or periods of "severe economic downturn."

The intergovernmental accord aims to make sanctions more automatic and require governments to enshrine a "golden rule" of balanced budgets into their constitutions.

Negotiators from the 26 EU states willing to sign up to the pact will discuss the latest draft on Friday.