The European Union’s €750bn rescue package must be coupled with stricter application of stability pact rules, Dutch central banker Nout Wellink told the NRC on Tuesday.

Countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal need to put their budgets in order quickly to prevent the crisis from escalating, Wellink was reported as saying.
“That problem needs to be solved, the safety net has a temporary nature,” Wellink was quoted as saying. ‘Southern countries need to get their budgets and public finances straightened out.’
Wellink, who is also a member of the European central bank’s governing council, called for tougher rules to govern the eurozone stability pact.
‘Fines must be handed out more quickly if countries break the rules,’ he said, criticising the ‘European non-intervention’ attitude which he said ‘has existed for years and means member states refuse to intervene if another member makes mistakes’.