“Euro-plus pact” divides non-euro zone members

Baku, March 29 (AzerTAc). Six non-euro zone countries said they would join a Berlin-inspired project called the "euro-plus pact" that will prompt countries to further coordinate their economic policies and give them access in return to the EU's permanent bailout facility after 2013.
Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Denmark have decided to join the Berlin-inspired project, according to summit conclusions published on March 25.
The remaining four countries, including Britain, said they wanted to stay out of the so-called European Stability Mechanism, which will enter into force in June 2013.
Though not overtly stated, the package is believed to be linked to the EU's permanent rescue mechanism for euro zone nations and those aspiring to adopt the single currency.
The package also recommends rising retirement ages and linking salaries to increasing productivity. It has been left up to individual nations to decide on how and when to achieve these goals.
However, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom have decided to opt out from the pact.
The Czech Republic will not join the “euro-plus pact”, Prime Minister Petr Necas told the country's parliament in Prague. According to him, such a move would trigger fiscal harmonization, which he said was not in the interest of the Czech Republic.
Necas also criticized the fact that the pact had been negotiated by the euro zone members without any consultation with non-members.
However, Necas did not rule out his country joining on at a later stage.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Budapest will not join the euro pact because it wants to retain its "tax independence" and build the "most competitive tax system" in Europe.