The European Commission on Wednesday proposed disciplinary steps against France and six other EU countries over running excessive budget deficits, but will announce deadlines for their reduction only in November.
The disciplinary steps, known as the excessive deficit procedure, will be the first such move since the European Union suspended its fiscal rules, aimed at preventing excessive borrowing, in 2020 and then reformed the framework to take into account the new economic realities of high post-pandemic debt.
Talks between Paris and the Commission on how quickly to reduce France’s deficit and debt will take place in the coming months after the EU executive proposes to Paris a seven-year path to put debt on a downward path. But with the far right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen leading in polls ahead of the vote, the Commission will likely be facing a strongly euro-sceptic government in Paris that wants to loosen, rather than tighten, fiscal policy.