EUobserver: France to reach EU deficit targets 'without' austerity

04 June 2012

French finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, has said France will manage both to reach its EU-inspired targets on deficit reduction, and to do it without introducing new austerity measures.

"I told EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn that not only is it doable but it will be done", Moscovici said, referring both to the 2013 target to reduce France's budget deficit to three per cent and to have a balanced budget by 2017. "We take seriously the demands for budget credibility that the Commission is asking of us and which the situation demands of us", he added.

In a detailed analysis of the French economic and budgetary, the European Commission suggested the country would miss the goal unless it accelerated deficit-cutting measures. France was also warned of the "serious imbalances" in its economy as its exports drop and competitiveness declines.

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