EU urged to loosen deficit rules to cope with refugees

Berlin

THE European Union (EU) should loosen its deficit rules due to extra spending caused by a record influx of refugees, the head of the European Parliament and Luxembourg's finance minister both said in newspaper interviews on Sunday.

Calls for the EU to relax rules which say that states' budget deficits must not exceed 3 per cent of gross domestic product are growing as the costs of dealing with refugees mount.