Brussels, 07/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - In the recommendations it is preparing to make on Wednesday over the German budget deficit and that will then have to be approved by the EcoFin Council of 21 January, the European Commission, having noted the existence of an "excessive deficit" (thus, exceeding 3%) in 2002, is to call on Berlin to implement "urgent and deep" reforms "by end-May at the latest" to increase the country's "very weak growth potential".
The Commission should also note that in France (where the deficit is said to be at 2.8% in 2002) the risk of "persistent budgetary imbalances cannot be excluded", and thus call on Paris to implement the reforms "that were put off the previous years". (Monday, President Chirac announced that "in six months, a decisive step will be taken" concerning the reform of the pensions scheme).
As for Italy (where the deficit hardly exceeds 2% of GDP), the Commission is to draw particular attention to the problem of the public debt, the highest in the EU, and urge Rome in future to make more realistic growth estimates. Furthermore, to reduce the deficit, it should insist on measures of a permanent nature rather than extraordinary "one off" interventions.