EU finance ministers are today expected to censure Germany and France for failing to keep deficits under control as faltering growth poses a threat to budget discipline in the bloc.
But although Berlin is ready to accept a humiliating rebuke from Brussels for breaching the European Union limit, Paris is still trying to soften an early warning over its deficit, which is close to the EU ceiling.
Under EU rules, any member of the euro zone faces disciplinary procedure if its budget deficit breaches a limit of 3 per cent of gross domestic product, leading ultimately to heavy fines if corrective action is not taken.
Germany, which insisted on the strict rules to underpin the euro single currency, has agreed to accept the excessive budget procedure.
Berlin will be given four months to take steps to curb this year's shortfall after admitting last week that its deficit hit 3.7 per cent of GDP in 2002.
Worsening economic prospects, as well as a surge that is taking the euro to new three-year highs against the dollar, will dominate informal talks today between euro zone ministers on the eve of tomorrow's wider formal European Union meeting.