Euro zone needs no fiscal stimulus package-Juncker

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The euro zone can live without a special fiscal stimulus package similar to that agreed in the United States to boost a slowing economy, Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said on Monday.

"Compared with the U.S. our fundamentals are very solid ... the EU economy has not been hit by the turbulence on markets and we continue to assume the impact will be fairly limited," Juncker told a news conference.

"... we would not need such a programme as put forward in the U.S," he said after a meeting of the euro zone's 15 finance ministers which he chairs.

President George W. Bush's administration agreed on Friday with the U.S. Congress on a need for a fiscal stimulus of up to $150 billion (77 billion pounds) to ward off the threat of recession.

Juncker said euro zone government should continue working towards bringing their budgets close to balance by cutting their structural deficit by 0.5 percentage point yearly as stipulated by EU budget rules.

But should current financial turmoil have a bigger than expected impact on growth, the European Union's Growth and Stability Pact, meant to underpin the euro currency, offered enough leeway for the governments' fiscal measures to boost the economy.

(Writing by Marcin Grajewski)