PARIS: France will stick to the country’s EU-set budget deficit reduction target, the new finance minister insisted on Tuesday, dismissing earlier indications that Paris was angling for a delay.

“I have always said that I have not asked for a delay,” Michel Sapin said, as the government spokesman said that deficit control was a condition for growth.

Sapin’s remarks stand in contrast to signals from President Francois Hollande that Paris would seek leeway over a deadline for cutting its excessive public deficit as it seeks to bring pro-business reforms to boost growth.

France’s senior politicians, Philippe Leglise-Cost and Emmanuel Macron, received a frosty reception from their eurozone partners in Brussels last week during a trip to ask for more leeway.