France Vows To Adhere To EU Spending Rules
France’s new finance minister Antoine Armand on Monday strove to convince his EU counterparts that Paris is serious about reining in its ballooning deficit and complying with the bloc’s budget rules.
The new minister will present the national budget on Thursday, which Paris hopes will tackle France’s “colossal” debt through spending cuts and new taxes.
On Monday, Armand was in Luxembourg to reassure his eurozone counterparts of France’s policy priorities, including bringing the deficit under control.
“We have prepared a budget to strengthen the country’s financial and national sovereignty,” Armand said during a media briefing hours before his first meeting with EU finance ministers.
He stressed that respecting EU rules is “a question of international credibility”.
Armand will also have to persuade the markets that he will achieve his goals.
Brussels has already rebuked France for breaking budget rules, placing the country under formal procedure in July because its deficit is above the three percent limit eurozone members are supposed to adhere to.
France must submit a multi-year plan to reduce its public deficit, but Paris obtained a delay after it took time to form a new government following snap elections.
Paris now has until October 31 to submit its budget plan to the European Commission, but discussions have already begun at a technical level between French and EU officials.
EU economy chief Paolo Gentiloni appeared to be cautiously optimistic about talks with France, telling reporters in Luxembourg that his conversations with the French minister were “promising” despite the “difficulties”.
But Germany’s finance minister warned against joking about with “the credibility of public finances with the financial markets”, without directly referring to France.
“We must credibly reduce our deficit and our debt in order to be able to finance ourselves in an adequate and stable manner,” said Christian Lindner, who often insists on the need for sound public finances.
