At the beginning of March, the leaders of 25 EU countries signed a new fiscal treaty to enforce tougher fiscal regulations that would consolidate euro zone financial markets and would prevent a repetition of the sovereign debt crisis.
The states that join the treaty must observe several rules: their annual budget deficit should not exceed 3% of the gross domestic product and their public debt should be lower than 60% of the GDP.
The United Kingdom and the Czech Republic were the only two EU members to refuse the new treaty, which imposes strict limits on national budget deficits and public debts and requires transparency of fiscal policies.
To be applied, the document must be ratified by the parliaments of the signatory states.
The treaty will take effect on January 1, 2013, after having been ratified by at least 12 signatory states in the euro zone, or on the first day of the month after the 12th signatory state in the euro zone ratified the protocol.