by Michael Grogan, First Class Analytics
In an effort to bring the budget deficits of EU member countries down to a sustainable level, the European Commission has recently been placing significant pressure on France to reduce its deficit to a level of 4% by the end of 2015.
Ultimately, the goal is for France to reach a budget deficit of 2.8% by the end of 2017, which would bring the country below the generally accepted EU restriction of 3% of overall Gross Domestic Product.
Source: Author
Indeed, France has taken measures to attempt to bring down its budget deficit.However, where the EU and France differ is the pace at which this should be achieved. For instance, Paris has set out slightly different guidelines than that being imposed by the EU, with a target of reducing the budget deficit to 4.1 percent of GDP this year, and further down to a level of 3.6 percent in 2016 (in contrast to the level of 3.4 percent set by Europe). In their own words, the European Commission has set the following guidelines for France (the full council recommendation can be read here):
