EU Presses Hungary to Make Further Spending Cuts

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　　EU economy minister Olli Rehn said Wednesday that the Budapest government has failed to permanently² keep its deficit spending below the EU-mandated level of 3 percent of the country's economic output.

　　"It is on an unsustainable path and will reach about 3 percent next year and thus again breach³ the reference value of the treaty. This is why we have concluded that Hungary has not taken effective action in response to the council recommendations," said Rehn.

　　Rehn said the EU could withhold⁴ development funds for Hungary if it does not curtail⁵ its spending.

　　Meanwhile, the EU also said it is nearing completion of a review to determine whether Hungary's new constitution violates EU standards by curtailing⁶ the independence of the country's judges, the central bank and its data protection agency. Some critics say the constitutional changes pushed through by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's parliamentary majority in December could return the one-time Soviet-bloc country to an authoritarian⁷ state.

　　Hungary is seeking a bailout of up to $25 billion from the EU and International Monetary⁸ Union, but talks were suspended over the assistance after the central bank provisions were approved.

　　Meanwhile, even Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, said it is not immune from the effects of the continent's slowing economy and the effects of the two-year governmental debt crisis. Germany said Wednesday its economy shrunk by a quarter of a percentage point in the last three months of 2011.

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