On 24 March 2005, the French weekly news magazine Le Point criticises the decision taken three days earlier in Brussels by the Finance Ministers of the Twenty-Five to relax, once again, the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact in order to allow, in the event of derogations from the budgetary criteria of the Pact, the invocation of attenuating circumstances such as spending related, in particular, to research and development, to reforms of funds (such as pension or social security funds), to development aid or to military costs.