France plays down early warning on budget deficit

The French Government sought to shrug off an early alert from the European Commission issued on the 28 May 2008 about its precarious public finances by promising a sharp slowdown in the growth of public spending over the next four years.

While acknowledging the reforms started in France in the last 12 months, the European Commission advised the French Government to carry out this process hand in hand with budgetary consolidation. This dual approach will allow for a rise in the country's growth potential and will reverse the building up of the national debt since the early nineties. This is economic and budgetary policy advice for France, the principle of which is provided for in the 2005 revision of the Stability and Growth Pact agreed by all European Union countries.

European Commission: Press Release, IP/08/811: Commission encourages France to pursue budgetary consolidation as well as reforms http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/811&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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