European Commission head Mr Romano Prodi today denounced the 1997 Stability and Growth Pact as "stupid" and "rigid" in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde.
"I know very well that the stability pact is stupid, just like all decisions that are rigid," Mr Prodi told the newspaper.
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European Commission President Mr Romano Prodi.
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"If you want to change them, you need unanimity and that doesn't work. It's not enough to have intelligence - we have that. You also have to be able to decide," he said.
The pact seeks to regulate economic policies among the 12 nations using the euro.
In its most controversial stipulation it obliges euro-zone members to limit their annual public deficits to three per cent of gross domestic product, a restriction considered by some economists to impose harmful constraints on growth.
Elsewhere in his interview, the president of the European Union's executive body defended the benefits of the pact but stressed the need for greater flexibility.
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"The stability pact is imperfect, that's true, because we need a more intelligent and more flexible instrument."
Several of the leading economies in the euro zone, notably France, Germany and Italy, are currently having trouble adhering to the three per cent public defict limit in the current economic downturn.
AFP