France laid down the gauntlet to EU partners on Wednesday with a 2015 budget setting out how it would bring its borrowing back to within EU limits two years later than promised, a retreat it blamed on a fragile economy, reports Reuters.
"We have taken the decision to adapt the pace of deficit reduction to the economic situation of the country," finance minister Michel Sapin told a news conference.
"Our economic policy is not changing, but the deficit will be reduced more slowly than planned due to economic circumstances - very weak growth and very weak inflation."
Under the budget plan, the public deficit is set to fall from 4.4 percent of output this year to 4.3 percent next year, 3.8 percent in 2016 and 2.8 percent in 2017 - below the EU-mandated threshold of 3 percent.
Previously, France had promised EU partners it would bring its deficit below 3 percent by next year, a deadline that had already been extended from 2013.
"No further effort will be demanded of the French, because the government - while taking the fiscal responsibility needed to put the country on the right track - rejects austerity," the budget statement said.
Sapin, who earlier this month conceded that the 2015 deficit target was untenable, reaffirmed forecasts that the euro zone's second largest economy would grow at a modest 1.0 percent next year, rising to 1.9 percent in 2017.
It described its effort to shave 50 billion euros off projected public spending volumes between now and 2017 as "unprecedented" - while acknowledging the total volume of public spending would still rise by 0.2 percent over the period.
Read more of this report from Reuters.