Noonan seeks extra €1.5bn but faces ECB opposition

Finance Minister Michael Noonan could have an extra €1.5bn to spend in this year’s budget, but he may have to overcome objections from the ECB and Germany first.

He argued for more flexibility in how he spends his budget when fellow EU finance ministers agreed to give France two more years to cut their budget overspend, having failed to live up to promises.

Figures due out tomorrow should strengthen the minister’s case as he expects GDP growth in 2014 to be around 4.7% — the highest in the EU — while he will cut the budget overspend to a little over 1% next year, well ahead of target.