By Anthony Fletcher - 10th July 2007
STRASBOURG: Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker told MEPs that economic rules would not be ignored when it came to the elimination of France’s budget deficit.
“France has to make its mid-term objectives in 2010,” said Juncker during a eurozone, European central bank (ECB) joint debate Wednesday afternoon.
“This applies to all member states that are members of the eurogroup.
“We have received assurances that deficits will be in line with budgetary forecasts. We all feel that no country can question the independence of the European central bank.”
France has threatened to delay the elimination of its deficit to 2012. But economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia said that he was heartened by what president Nicolas Sarkozy had to say at Mondays’ ecofin meeting in Brussels.
“The French president committed himself, before finance ministers of the eurozone, to institute a serious programme of reforms,” he told MEPs.
“He committed himself to ensuring that fiscal consolidation would receive greater attention. He said that if he could adjust the deficit by 2010, he would.”
Almunia went on to say that he hoped Wednesday’s joint debate on the eurozone and the ECB would help to clarify how the euro monetary area works, and how successful it has been.
“I have to say that I am concerned that many European citizens don’t show great levels of satisfaction with the single currency, at a time of economic growth,” he said.
“We all shoulder responsibility of explaining to the public that eight years after its introduction, the euro is producing excellent results.”
Almunia’s assertion was backed up by ECB president Jean Claude Trichet’s presentation of the bank’s findings for 2006.
Trichet said that the eurozone growth rate was now at its highest since 2000, and that the latest data was broadly positive.
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