October 12, 2007	Friday	Ramazan 29, 1428

PARIS, Oct 11: France must resolutely scale back public spending in line with commitments it has made to its euro-zone partners, Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said.

Juncker, the prime minister and finance minister of Luxembourg, recalled that the former administration of president Jacques Chirac had promised to bring France’s deficit down to 1.8pc of GDP in 2008.

“But the new government has presented a finance bill which, with a deficit forecast at 2.3pc of GDP, falls short of its commitments,” Juncker said.—AFP