Need for Paris to cut spending is “in the interest of Europe as a whole,” says Netherlands finance minister.
BRUSSELS ― The European Commission must take the same tough approach in judging France as it took in evaluating the Dutch budget plans, Netherlands Finance Minister Eelco Heinen said.
« I expect the European Commission to be just as strict to France as it has been with me, » Heinen told reporters entering a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Monday.
The Netherlands was the only country whose annual budget and medium-term fiscal plan both failed to meet EU targets, according to the Commission.
By contrast, France’s government under Prime Minister Michel Barnier, which was toppled last week after losing a confidence vote, got EU approval for its 2025 budget and its longer-term plan. Barnier did not win political support for the measures from the far-right and left-wing blocs in parliament, which hold the balance of power.
Both the Dutch and the French need to take extra steps to cut spending, Heinen said.
« This is not only in the interest of France but in the interest of Europe as a whole,” he added.
Despite France having deficit and debt levels higher than those in the Netherlands, EU rules take into account the starting position of each country ― and the French commitments to cut spending were also « more ambitious », European Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said last week.
The EU executive has been accused for a long time of applying special treatment to France. The country, the second largest in the EU, has had a deficit ― the difference between how much a government spends and how much it brings in ― above the crucial 3-percent-of-GDP ceiling in 18 out of the last 22 years.
France’s 2025 budget is expected to come at the beginning of the new year. Without a new medium-term budget plan, the one previously presented by Barnier ― and approved by the EU executive ― is set to be formally adopted by EU governments in January, making its planned cuts binding for French governments over seven years.
