Lisbon, 02/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - Portuguese Finance Minister Teixeira dos Santos, wishing to “alert France to what I hope will be the reaction of its partners”, left it to the pressure from his counterparts to encourage Paris to meet its commitments on budgetary consolidation. With French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who will present the French strategy to the Eurogroup and to Ecofin, planning on France bringing public finances back into balance by 2012, Mr dos Santos wants to be “realistic”. There was “a difference between legal obligations and political obligations,” he told the press on Saturday, hoping that “all commitments, including political commitments, will be abided by”. He said that commitments made by euro area finance ministers in Berlin to achieve their medium-term objectives (MTOs) “are guidelines and recommendations and only that”. While “2010 is a desirable deadline for the countries of the euro area to achieve their MTOs”, member states still have sovereignty and can chose another strategy, he said, allowing collegial pressure to do its work. (hb)