Jens Weidmann also warned that French delays could damage the eurozone credibility.
The warning came just days after the European Union granted France more time to meet the European bloc’s requirements to limit its budget deficit to three percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
”You can’t call that savings, as far as I am concerned. To win back trust, we can’t just establish rules and then promise to fulfill them at some point in the future. They have to be filled with life,” Weidmann said.
Immediately after the European Commission granted an additional two years to Paris to comply with the requirements, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said that Paris planned to lessen its austerity measures.
“We don’t want excessive consolidation for our country, we don’t want austerity beyond what is necessary,” said Moscovici.
On May 3, the European Commission said France would enter recession in 2013 with a negative growth of 0.1 percent.
France initially promised to lower its budget deficit under the limit of three percent in 2013. However, it revised its forecasts in February to almost four percent for this year and likely even higher in 2014.
CAH/KA
Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/05/10/302822/france-criticized-over-budget-deficit/
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