ECB Trichet: Absolutely Crucial That Greece Attains Deficit Targets 4  FEB   BRUSSELS - It is absolutely crucial that Greece attain the targets set out in its stability plan and brings its budget deficit back under 3% by 2012, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday. BRUSSELS (MNI) - It is absolutely crucial that Greece attain the targets set out in its stability plan and brings its budget deficit back under 3% by 2012, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday. Greece's budget deficit currently stands at 12.7% - the highest budget in the eurozone, causing the market to worry that the southern European state could default on its debt. The Greek government has outlined plans to curb its deficit, which the European Commission has called "ambitious" and promised to monitor very closely. "I would say that the position of the ECB is the following: the Governing Council approves of the medium-term goal that has been fixed by the Greek government to get (the budget deficit) back to less than 3% in 2012," Trichet said. "Now we expect and we are confident that the Greek government will take all the decisions that will permit it to reach that goal." He added: "They have to reach the goals that they have fixed themselves, it is absolutely crucial, and we expect and we are confident that they will take the measures [necessary]." Trichet said the measures taken by the Greek government last Tuesday - adding an extra tax on oil and freezing public wages - are "steps in the right direction." "In any case the deficit target for 2010 has to be attained, as well as the final goal," he said. "This strategy is crucial in our eyes." --Brussels: 0032 487 (0) 32 803 665, echarlton@marketnews.com [TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$$FX$,M$$EC$,M$X$$$,M$$CR$] 2/4/2010 9:15:00 AM