The European Commission on June 19 proposed disciplinary steps against France and six other EU countries over running excessive budget deficits, but will announce deadlines for their reduction only in November.
The countries singled out by the EU executive arm are Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia. The deficits are mainly a legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy price crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
France is in the spotlight because it is the EU’s second-biggest economy and faces political turmoil after President Emmanuel Macron…