France will do its utmost to squeeze its public finance deficit below 3 percent of GDP by 2017, said French Minister French Michel Sapin after meeting Slovak counterpart Peter Kažimír in Bratislava. France has been given a two-year deferral by the European Commission on meeting budgetary goals. According to the French minister, the country's deficit needs to fall by 0.5 percent of GDP each year, and France is complying with that. If need be, we're ready to adopt more measures if we're not able to deliver on it, said Sapin. He also brought attention to several significant reforms that France has undertaken in the past two years.
Both ministers concurred that the eurozone's economy should grow at a sound and sustainable pace. "In order for us to accomplish this objective and to be able to offer more jobs to our people, we need reforms, at the European level and in the individual countries alike", said Peter Kažimír. He called Slovakia a good example of how efficient - albeit painful - reforms can be done.
The two ministers also discussed the issue of tax evasion. Peter Kažimír said that he'd asked his French colleague for its endorsement in getting a request from Slovakia's Financial Administration dealt with. The minister said that the Slovak authority is seeking information from France on possible clients of HSBC Bank from Slovakia who might have dodged taxes by hiding them in the bank's accounts.
Ministers also addressed Slovakia's presidency of the Council of the European Union in the latter half of 2016, investments and the investment plan of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
