The fiscal compact – formally the Treaty on Stability, Coordination, and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union – was the quid pro quo for Germany to approve the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which was essentially a collective bailout package. The compact sets a strict ceiling for a country’s structural budget deficit and stipulates that public-debt ratios in excess of 60% of GDP must be reduced yearly by one-twentieth of the difference between the current ratio and the target.
这个财政契约&mdash;&mdash;正式名称是《欧洲货币联盟稳定、合作和治理条约》（Treaty on Stability, Coordination, and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union）是作为德国批准欧洲稳定机制（European Stability Mechanism，ESM，实质上是集体援助计划）的交换物签订的。该契约设置了严格的国家结构性预算赤字上限，并规定对于占GDP的60%以上部分的公共债务，每年必须削减当前比率和目标比率差额的十二分之一。