A deterioration in France's economy since July must be recognised when the European Commission considers its breach of EU budget rules, the EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner has said today.
However, Mr Pedro Solbes also said France had made an "insufficient effort in structural terms" to reduce its deficit in the 2004 budget and needed to do more to get back below the EU limit of 3 per cent of gross domestic product as soon as possible.
Mr Solbes made the comments when asked about the impact of Paris's reduced growth forecast on measures to be recommended by the EU executive later this month.
He said: "It means that the situation is different, that the perspective today from the point of view of the forecasts for France are worse and this element has to be considered in the preparation of our recommendation."