European Union finance ministers will reform the Stability and Growth Pact without the approval of the European Central Bank (ECB) if necessary, according to the Dutch EU presidency writes Denis Staunton in Brussels.

The Dutch finance minister, Mr Gerrit Zalm, who is the current chairman of Ecofin, said that central bankers had little say over setting the EU's budget rules.

"We are interested in the ECB's opinion and the opinion of individual central banks, but it is primarily a responsibility of the ministers of finance," he said.

Mr Zalm was speaking after the Bundesbank condemned the European Commission's plan to overhaul the pact as a step in the wrong direction. The German central bank said that the proposed changes would weaken fiscal discipline, diminishing the incentives for sound fiscal policies and sending the wrong signal to countries that have not yet joined the euro.

"In the Bundesbank's opinion, the Stability and Growth Pact overall would not be strengthened by the proposed changes, rather weakened," it said in the statement.

The Commission wants to broaden the definition of "exceptional circumstances" under which governments may breach the budget deficit limit of 3 per cent of GDP. The proposals could also allow countries such as France and Germany, which have breached the budget limit, more time to bring their deficits into line.

The Bundesbank said that some of the Commission's proposals would make the budget rules more complicated and less transparent.

The ECB has argued consistently against any change in the wording of EU regulations governing the pact but has yet to respond formally to the Commission's proposals.

EU finance ministers will discuss the reform proposals this weekend when they meet in the Dutch resort of Scheveningen and Mr Zalm made clear that the final decision would be theirs alone.

The ministers will also discuss a Commission "non-paper", or discussion document, calling for a harmonised corporate tax base throughout the EU. Mr Zalm stressed that the discussion would be limited to the tax base and did not represent a move towards harmonising corporate tax rates in the EU.