The European Commission wants to set deficit procedure against France after nine years. The budgetary situation in France has improved significantly, said Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis in Brussels. "Now it is important to build on se good results."

Last year, French budget deficit was only 2.6 percent of economic power – and for first time since 2007 it was in line with EU's stability rules. These allow a maximum of three percent of economic output to be recouped to ensure a balance between economic growth and government spending.

The Commission's proposal to end procedure which has been in operation since 2009 must still be approved by EU finance ministers. Then re is only one such procedure against Spain, said Dombrovskis. During economic and financial crisis in year 2011, re were still 24 countries in total.

The Commission's recommendation is an important success for French president, Emmanuel Macron, who came into office a good year ago. He had promised to reduce deficit through austerity measures during campaign. However, country's total debt is still high, with almost 97 percent of economic power – here EU rules have a ceiling of 60 percent.

Date Of Update: 24 May 2018, 12:02