(MENAFN- Arab Times) PARIS Sept 10 (AFP): Crisis-wracked France on Wednesday pushed back its target to hit EU deficit rules by two years putting the eurozone's second-biggest economy on a fresh collision course with Brussels. Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Paris would not get its ballooning budget deficit down to the EU limit of three percent of gross domestic product (GDP) until 2017 when the next French presidential election is expected to take place. France had promised Brussels it would return to three percent next year but Sapin said the deficit in 2015 would come in at 4.3 percent a far cry from the maximum permitted. For this year Sapin said the deficit would be 4.4 percent of GDP. France has already twice asked for more time to get its deficit below the three percent maximum. The European Commission said it was 'evident' the revised deficit goals were not in line with what had been agreed in Brussels. 'While the Commission will as always make full use of the flexibility foreseen by the (EU's Stability and Growth) Pact it is essential that the credibility of our fiscal rules be upheld and thus that the Pact be fully respected' said Simon O'Connor a commission spokesman. France is due to submit a draft 2015 budget for review in Brussels next month and this 'should clearly specify credible measures' he added. The repeated delays in budgetary consolidation are also likely to be viewed with concern in Germany which has spearheaded a drive to tackle fiscal red ink. Chancellor Angela Merkel said pointedly earlier Wednesday: 'Keeping to our incurred commitments in Europe especially in the eurozone must unlike in the past finally become the hallmark of the eurozone.' Sapin blamed an 'exceptional situation' in the eurozone which he said was 'marked by a very weak economy combined with a slowdown in inflation that no one predicted.' This was a clear message to Brussels which allows countries to delay their budgetary targets in 'exceptional' economic circumstances. He stressed however that 'we are not asking for a change in the European rules we are not asking for them to be suspended nor for any exception.' Hours later Pierre Moscovici France's former finance minister was named EU economics commissioner with power over member states' budgets. Sapin also revealed that growth this year would be a sluggish 0.4 percent following two quarters during which the economy stagnated completely. Officially Paris was banking on a growth rate of one percent this year but Sapin had already admitted this was too bullish and predicted last month the economy would grow by 'around 0.5 percent.' The French economy is seen recovering slightly next year with 1.0 percent growth Sapin said although this was a significant downwards revision from a previous forecast of 1.7 percent. Meanwhile Merkel voiced pride on Wednesday in her country's strong budget and called on EU states 'finally' to respect joint fiscal rules. Told lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house of parliament that Germany could be 'proud' after balancing its 2015 federal budget for the first time for 45 years. After striving for years to achieve it she said it was 'now reality' adding: 'Economic activity financed on credit is set to finally end.' The Bundestag is due to vote on the draft budget for next year on Friday. Merkel said that what applied for Germany also held true for Europe where she said the situation was still fragile but noted that reforms in countries such as Spain were bearing fruit. 'We should take very seriously that the (European) Commission has now rightly indicated that straying from the reform course is the biggest risk for further recovery' she told MPs. And she reiterated comments by Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble saying 'keeping to our incurred commitments in Europe especially in the eurozone must unlike in the past finally become the hallmark of the eurozone'.
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