The European Commission yesterday welcomed the Irish parliament’s vote on the first measures of a 2011 austerity budget crafted to meet EU and IMF requirements for the country’s bailout.

“The commission welcomes the vote last night,” said Amadeu Altafaj, the spokesman for the economic affairs commissioner.

“It is a very important and successful first step towards the implementation of the programme that was agreed with the European Union and the IMF,” he said.

Ireland on Tuesday announced an annual budget with €6 billion in savings, one-third via tax hikes and the remainder in spending cuts necessary to secure the EU-IMF bailout.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, delivering his 2011 budget to the Dail, or lower house of parliament, said he would make the savings as part of a four-year plan to slash a huge deficit by a total of €15 billion.

In Brussels, the commission spokesman said the budget was “an ambitious and indispensible tool for this redressment of the situation.”

“We consider that there is good balance between expenditure and revenue measures, mostly structural. This is welcomed,” Altafaj said.

“The budget is in line with our agreement,” he added. “So far, the approval process of the budget is on track. The vote yesterday is a first step.”

First technical measures in the austerity budget were adopted in Dublin on Tuesday evening though most of the legislation will not be examined before mid-January, meaning the budget may not be adopted in totality before February.

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