Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (L) meets with European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni in Athens, Greece, on Feb. 6, 2020. Gentiloni is on a two-day visit to the Greek capital as part of his tour across European capitals in the context of the EU's regular schedule of coordination among member states on economic policy. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

The European Union's Economy Commissioner wants to set debt limits on an individual basis for member states under a proposed reform of the EU Stability Pact that he aims to present around mid-2022, he told daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Paolo Gentiloni called in November for a debate on reforming EU debt rules in view of the economic strains caused by the coronavirus crisis.

"We cannot lump all countries together. The differences in the [current] debt ratios are too high for that," Gentiloni was quoted by the newspaper as saying on Wednesday.

State support and investment programs to counter the economic impact of COVID-19 have sent many EU states' debt levels soaring beyond the Stability Pact's current 60 percent of gross domestic product limit.

Gentiloni said his reform would set individual debt goals for each country, adding that the Commission should be given more effective instruments to enforce budget rules.

He rejected a proposal by Klaus Regling, head of the euro zone bailout fund, to raise the debt limit to 100 percent of GDP for all states.

"That just doesn't correspond to my idea of a differentiated view of the states," he told the FAZ.

Gentiloni has been pushing for a relaxation of the rules to permit higher public investment and loosen debt-reduction requirements. 

He also floated the idea of a green investment fund to be set up as successor to the pandemic recovery fund, according to an interview in December.