STABILITY PROGRAMMES : RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FRANCE, GERMANY AND ITALY.

• Position: Brief article

The European Commission will adopt on 23 January an initial set of recommendations for revision of the Convergence and Stability Programmes of eight member states (France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Denmark and Cyprus). The Commission's recommendations are expected to be basically as follows.

France: A balanced budget by 2010. According to the French Stability Programme for 2008-2010, public finances should be balanced by 2010 (for 2007, Paris is expecting a deficit of close to 2.6% of GDP). The Commission is remaining cautious, however, and is expected to encourage France to continue its efforts to achieve its medium-term objectives given its firmer growth (Paris is projecting growth of between 2% and 2.5% for 2007).

Germany: The Commission will likely be less enthusiastic over the medium-term objectives set by Germany, which is also expecting to have a balanced budget by 2010. Berlin could well end...