European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker arrives at the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, April 29, 2017. REUTERS/Olivier Hoslet/Pool - RTS14FT4

ROME (Reuters) - France, Italy, Spain and Portugal have urged the European Commission to make economic growth its top priority when it considers the budgets of euro zone countries, and to review its current economic models.

“Authorities should use all economic policy instruments at their disposal to ensure that economic growth and employment return to sustainable levels,” the finance ministers from the four countries wrote in a letter to the Commission.

The letter, dated May 3 and published by Italy’s economy ministry on Thursday, called for the Commission to adopt “significant changes in the common methodology on potential growth and output gap estimation”.

All the countries are struggling to bring or to keep their budgets inside the EU’s fiscal rules.

The letter was addressed to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and other top EU officials.