CAMBRIDGE – At the start of 2013, the eurozone’s “fiscal compact” entered into force, owing to its ratification on December 21 by a 12th country, Finland, a year after German Chancellor Angela Merkel prodded eurozone leaders into agreement. The compact – technically called the Treaty on Stability, Coordination, and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union – requires member countries to introduce laws limiting their structural government budget deficits to less than 0.5 % of GDP (or less than 1% of GDP if their debt/GDP ratio is “significantly below 60%”).
发自剑桥——在德国总理安吉拉·默克尔（Angela Merkel）敦促欧元区各国领导人达成协议的一年之后，2012年12月21日，“财政契约”得到了欧元区第12个国家芬兰的批准，由此从2013年起，欧元区“财政契约”开始生效。这份全称为《欧洲经济货币联盟稳定、协调与治理公约》的文件要求成员国制定法律限制政府结构性预算赤字不得高于GDP的0.5%（如果该国的债务对GDP比率“显著低于60%”，则为1%）。那么这一新措施能起到作用吗？