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France has asked the European Commission to extend beyond Sept. 20 its deadline for submitting a plan to reduce its public deficit to ensure coherence with Paris' 2025 draft budget, La Tribune du Dimanche said on Sunday, citing the finance ministry. France could see its budget deficit spiral unexpectedly higher this year and next if extra savings are not found, the finance ministry said in a letter to lawmakers earlier this month, as the euro zone's second-biggest economy lurches deeper into political crisis.
The deteriorating finances have put Paris into EU disciplinary proceedings and left incoming Prime Minister Michel Barnier facing tough questions as he looks to form a new government and prepare a budget by October 1 with the threat of a parliamentary vote of no-confidence hanging over him. "France has asked for such an extension," the finance ministry was quoted as saying in La Tribune, without specifying how long it had asked for. This was to "ensure the coherence of the plan and the 2025 draft budget," the ministry said.
Neither the ministry not the commission were immediately available for comment. The September 20 deadline is not set in stone and could be extended until as late as October 15 by agreement. The financial shortfall means Barnier's new government could face tough choices between cutting spending and hiking taxes or losing credibility with France's EU partners and financial markets.
"If in the coming weeks the French are forgotten or badly treated we won't hesitate to vote against the government," she said at a public meeting in northern France..
