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The headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels (illustration). REUTERS / Yves Herman

According to the European Commission, the 2020 finance law in France and Italy carries the risk of deviations from European rules.

In a letter to Bruno Le Maire, the European Commission criticizes Paris for not considering next year any effort to improve the balance of public accounts. The French government predicts that public spending could grow by 2.6%, while Brussels recommends 1.2%. The European executive believes that it is not at this rate that France will succeed in reducing its debt.

► See also: France: a 2020 budget focused on tax cuts

The same clarification was requested from Italy, as Rome did not respect the European recommendations on the reduction of expenditure and the pace of debt reduction. The tone is firm, but courteous. Since the coming to power of a new coalition government , much more Europhile, relations between Rome and Brussels have calmed down. We are a long way from the standoff a year ago. Last week, EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici said that the Italian project needed to be improved, but it was far from being a major problem.

Finland, Spain, Portugal and Belgium also received warnings on the projects in their respective budgets.