Word: pacts
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...which straddles the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, had formed an alliance with the Pakistani army against Mehsud and other militants. In fact, backed by the army, Nazir and his men had routed some 250 al-Qaeda-aligned Uzbek militants from Wana, in South Waziristan, in 2004. But despite their nonaggression pact with the Pakistani military, both men continued to mount cross-border attacks on U.S. and NATO troops. The fact that they became targets of U.S. drone attacks prompted critics in Pakistan to suggest that the Musharraf government was double-dealing in some of its alliances in the tribal areas...
...fair, the Stability and Growth Pact's credibility was straining long before the downturn. Most E.U. member states have run budget deficits beyond the 3% ceiling from time to time, while many have breached the pact's other main criterion: that national debt stay below 60% of GDP. Germany, the pact's main proponent, has been one of the most consistent abusers of the budgetary rules. In 2002, then president of the European Commission Romano Prodi even described the rules as "stupid...
...threaten countries now? Simon Tilford, chief economist at the London-based Centre for European Reform, says any attempt to stick with the pact through the global economic crisis could unleash a political crisis. "Against a backdrop of recession or economic stagnation, painful spending cuts would be extremely difficult for any government to sell to voters," he says, questioning whether such reductions would even succeed. "Drastic cuts in spending or [raising] tax risks deepening the recession, which would in itself prevent an improvement in the fiscal position...
...Facing such a woeful economic outlook, E.U. monetary-affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia has struggled to make the case for fiscal rectitude. He insists the pact is flexible enough to allow short-term stimulus programs. "During the recession, the pact is not about sanctions," he said last week. "But in the medium term, we need to continue a process of consolidation of the public finances. The rules were established for everybody and must be respected...
...Luxembourg) of the E.U.'s 27 members expect to break the deficit ceiling in the coming year. In such circumstances, the E.U. should suspend the pact immediately, says Daniel Gros, director of the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies. "It means it doesn't break - it bends. And it is ready to bounce back," he says. "We could then reaffirm them when we have a better idea of where the economy is going." Not that anyone knows when that will...