Press Release: Commission adopts report on government finances in France as a first step of the Excessive Deficit Procedure

The European Commission adopted on 2 April 2003 a report on the government finance situation in France. This report constitutes the first step in the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) provided for by Article 104(3) of the Treaty. The Commission has initiated the EDP for France since the first reporting on deficit and debt data for 2002 by Eurostat shows that the general government deficit reached 3.1% of GDP in 2002, thus breaching the 3% of GDP reference value of the Treaty.

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