Treat France as strictly as us, say Dutch

BRUSSELS ― The European Commission must take the same tough approach in judging France as it took in evaluating the Dutch budget plans, Netherlands Finance Minister Eelco Heinen said.

“I expect the European Commission to be just as strict to France as it has been with me,” Heinen told reporters entering a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Monday.

The Netherlands was the only country whose annual budget and medium-term fiscal plan both failed to meet EU targets, according to the Commission.

By contrast, France’s government under Prime Minister Michel Barnier, which was toppled last week after losing a confidence vote, got EU approval for its 2025 budget and its longer-term plan. Barnier did not win political support for the measures from the far-right and left-wing blocs in parliament, which hold the balance of power.

Both the Dutch and the French need to take extra steps to cut spending, Heinen said.

“This is not only in the interest of France but in the interest of Europe as a whole,” he added.

Despite France having deficit and debt levels higher than those in the Netherlands, EU rules take into account the starting position of each country ― and the French commitments to cut spending were also “more ambitious”, European Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said last week.

The EU executive has been accused for a long time of applying special treatment to France. The country, the second largest in the EU, has had a deficit ― the difference between how much a government spends and how much it brings in ― above the crucial 3-percent-of-GDP ceiling in 18 out of the last 22 years. 

France’s 2025 budget is expected to come at the beginning of the new year. Without a new medium-term budget plan, the one previously presented by Barnier ― and approved by the EU executive ― is set to be formally adopted by EU governments in January, making its planned cuts binding for French governments over seven years.