HIGHLIGHTS-Euro zone finance ministers' meeting

BRUSSELS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The following are comments by euro zone finance ministers and other officials in connection with their meeting on Monday in Brussels.

Latest quotes at top:

EU MONETARY AFFAIRS COMMISSIONER JOAQUIN ALMUNIA

On EU budget rules:

"I will not give specific recommendations to a particular national economy. Not all countries are in the same starting position. We will need to assess everyone's national economy on its own merits. The pact is very clear -- all deficits above 3 percent are excessive unless three conditions are met simultaneously -- a severe economic downturn, deviation is temporary -- temporary is what it means, it means one year, no more; and that it means close -- a few decimals means a few decimals."

On fiscal stimulus:

"I think it is too early in the day to try and add up the exact impact of all the fiscal measures currently being adopted. Some countries have already adopted measures, some have adopted two sets of discretionary fiscal measures, some quite large countries will, should be adopting fiscal packages. I think the general consensus is that normal market mechanisms will not allow the market to pick up -- that is the general consensus among member states."

EUROGROUP CHAIRMAN JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER

"The elasticity (of a VAT drop) doesn't guarantee a proper impact on consumption. Any measures need to be temporary. To say that VAT will go down then up again shortly afterwards is not the sort of measure that will produce the desired effect."

"This measure announced by the UK doesn't affect the smooth running of the internal market. It is a fiscal measure which is targeted in as much as it is focused on indirect taxation ... but we agreed in the Eurogroup we are not going to be going down that road."

EU'S ALMUNIA

"Germany has adopted two packages of fiscal input that we appreciate. The German authorities think they need to assess what the impact of this input is before they make up their mind (on whether to increase it)."

EUROGROUP'S JUNCKER  Continued...