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Brussels Ready To Sanction France For EU Treaty-Busting Budget Plan

Tyler Durden's picture




 

"What people underestimate is that what's at stake is the entire credibility of the rules," warns one EU official as The WSJ reports, is preparing to reject France’s 2015 budget, that would be the biggest test yet of new powers for Brussels that were designed to prevent a repeat of the eurozone’s sovereign-debt crisis. With the looming handover to former French FinMin Pierre Moscovici (fox, henhouse?) it appears the current European Commission will not stand for Current French FinMin Sapin's plan that would run a budget deficit of 4.3% of GDP next year (far greater than the 3% deficit it had previously promised) put France’s budget in "serious noncompliance" with the new EU rules and risking sanctions of as much as 0.2% of GDP. The credibility of Brussels' new powers threatens to be seriously undermined if big countries such as France and Italy are able to flout the new rules as "it’s not like they will try - and fail; they're actually planning not do it," another EU official said.

Germany already expressed its open hostility to both France's budget recklessness and putting a French minister in charge of EU financial planning... Germany's finance ministry exclaimed:

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Tuesday rebuffed calls for Berlin to spend more to boost the euro zone economy, insisting on the need for painful structural reforms.

  • *GERMAN MINISTRY 'CERTAIN' FRANCE 'AWARE OF ITS RESPONSIBILITY'
  • *GERMAN MINISTRY SAYS EUROPE NEEDS FRANCE TO HAVE STRONG ECONOMY

Upholding the EU deficit-busting rules will now fall to Sapin's Socialist predecessor, Pierre Moscovici, an advocate of Keynesian demand-led economics, who was appointed European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs in the new EU executive team unveiled on Wednesday.

Germany was not happy:

  • *GERMAN CDU LAWMAKER BARTHLE SAYS MOSCOVICI NOMINATION NOT A WISE DECISION

German lawmaker Norbert Barthle from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union says appointment of Pierre Moscovici as European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner not “a wise personnel decision.”

 

In e-mailed statement, Barthle also says:

 

“It will be interesting to see how Mr. Moscovici will deal with France’s excessive deficit”

 

“It’s now up to the commission to assess a delayed adherence to the 3% deficit limit and, where appropriate, take further steps against the country”

 

“This is where Mr. Moscovici can show that he really represents the interests of Europe”

And now, as The Wall Street Journal reports, the European Union is preparing to reject France’s 2015 budget, according to European officials, setting up a clash that would be the biggest test yet of new powers for Brussels that were designed to prevent a repeat of the eurozone’s sovereign-debt crisis.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said last month that his country would run a budget deficit of 4.3% of gross domestic product next year—far from the 3% deficit it had previously promised.

 

...

 

That could put France’s budget in “serious noncompliance” with the new EU rules, likely leading the commission to send it back to Paris for revisions, European officials said. So far, the French government has said it won’t take any extra measures beyond what it proposed in the spring, indicating it is ready to risk a public clash with Brussels.

 

...

 

The conflict with France could be joined by a budget fight with Italy, which has also said that it will miss agreed budget targets. Italy has more leeway because its past budgets have run lower deficits than France’s, but a senior EU official called a decision about whether to confront Italy “borderline.”

 

The credibility of Brussels’ new powers threatens to be seriously undermined if big countries such as France and Italy are able to flout the new rules - which give the European Commission the right to demand changes to proposed budgets before they are presented to national parliaments. It would signal the tough budget regime can only be imposed on the eurozone’s smaller economies, such as Greece and Portugal.

 

...

 

Paris and Rome argue that it makes no sense to cut budgets further in the face of their deteriorating economic outlooks. European policy makers are conscious that anti-EU sentiment in France is running high, and rejecting the budget could play into the hands of the far-right anti-EU National Front party of Marine Le Pen.

 

...

 

What makes France’s 2015 budget different, though, is that the budget overruns are apparent already now... “It’s not like they will try and fail; they’re actually planning not do it,” another EU official said.

*  *  *

European Dis-Union at its best...

 

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Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:23 | 5292000 OpenThePodBayDoorHAL
OpenThePodBayDoorHAL's picture

Ooh ooh they might get "sanctioned" whatever that means. Is that like when you do something bad and they make you stand in the corner for ten minutes? Uh-huh that'll work

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:28 | 5292017 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

More like "now fill put form 3971 dash b."

Good luck defeating the French on that front.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:31 | 5292028 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

I fart in your general direction!

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:09 | 5292141 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

Credibility of the rules?  That's fucking hilarious.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:09 | 5292146 Keyser
Keyser's picture

It appears the unelected bureacrats in Brussels are feeling their oats... Let's see if they have any backbone... 

 

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 20:42 | 5292489 Antifaschistische
Antifaschistische's picture

screw the rules....the rules are silly.  Let countries borrow.  That's not the problem.  The problem is that the Central Bankers have removed the traditional relationship between risk/reward (i.e. borrowing and it's associated interest rates).

Because there is no market left...interest rates are WAY to low to punish over-borrowing.

Because interest rates are WAY to low, traditional savers are left to do nothing with their savings other than contribute to equity markets, after being crowded out of debt by the Central Bankers.

STOP CENTRAL BANKING, let interest rates govern the debt market, and then you don't need the silly rules.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 21:56 | 5292741 Tom Servo
Tom Servo's picture

French FinMin: Sanction me?  Sanction me?  You going to send in your army?  OH!  You ain't got an army, I guess that means you need to SHUT the fuck up!  Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

 

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:13 | 5292166 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

OMG, that will be sooo much fun to watch when Mutti will tell that pale bureaucrat Holland: "You failed, pay us, else ... "

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:24 | 5292200 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Hall-In-Day, I'm such a stickler for grammer and punktuashun ;-)

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 20:35 | 5292462 7.62x54r
7.62x54r's picture

Just WTF do those bureaucratic idiots think they can do to France?

The French have nukes.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:29 | 5292021 90's Child
90's Child's picture

What? Brussels sanctioning France? For breaking a treaty?

Who broke what when France and Belgium invaded Ruhr?

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:56 | 5292104 knukles
knukles's picture

The Mouse that Ruhred?

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:55 | 5292097 knukles
knukles's picture

Hey y'all....  remember a buncha years ago them Conspiracy Theorists said that a Buncha Unelected Bureaucrats in Brussels were gonna take away the EU member countries sovereign rights?  They gonna run the entire place... top to bottom!
That it was a first step of the implementation of a New World Order
Then along came the Euro
The EU and the Euro.
Complete NWO enslavement of the masses of theretofore reasonably free Europeans.
Now defenseless, borders open, dependent entirely upon others, no growth,m few good jobs....

What could go wrong?

The NWO is winning!
Wake the fuck up, people!

The RINOs and Democrats here in the US play by the same rules.
WTF you all think is the manifestation of Cloward Piven?
Open borders, "free trade", massive social welfare, taxing the system with disease, pestilence and an influx of foreign bodies all to be dependent upon the Federal Gubamint.
Control ther Media and indoctrinate the kids in schools.
Disarm the public
FEMA as an entire entity made to "Ensure the functioning of government"
Add in NAFTA, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc......

The whole Ebola importation of exposed and sick people is simply another Cloward Piven "taxing", "breaking" of the system in preparation for the "reset"
What did Hillary call her little red Russian button?

"Reset"

They're talking the fuck over!

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:01 | 5292111 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Thats just crazy talk, these are sovereign nations! ;-)

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:12 | 5292152 knukles
knukles's picture

Tee heeh....

I know a zillion (well, that's an exaggeration, but lots and lots, gobs and gobs) people who don't see a damned thing in front of their very noses about all this.
Nada, zip, zilch, none, fuck all naught.
They look at me like I'm crazy.

One guy here, a staunch RINO, wanted the entire water system taken over by local governments.  Because there'd be no profits distributed to shareholders, etc., meaning lower water costs.
This guy is really, really wealthy.
I was flabbergasted.
And said to him on front of a room full of his uids "Bet you voted for ObamaCare, too!"
He about shit his pants seeing the analogy

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:14 | 5292168 nmewn
nmewn's picture

lol...he was bright enough understand what an analogy is? ;-)

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:17 | 5292178 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

We all have to pick our battles, but it's sure nice to win a round now and then.

  Well done, knuks.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 03:16 | 5293384 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

knukles, you too? "Conspiracy Theorists said that a Buncha Unelected Bureaucrats in Brussels were gonna take away the EU member countries sovereign rights?"

the "Buncha Unelected Bureaucrats in Brussels" is still the "Conspiracy Theorists" favourite meme? The how do you explain the elected EU parliament?

look around the comments, and you'll note that several other commenters have by now realized who has armies (and nukes) and who has signed treaties or not

yes, France is a sovereign country. no, you can't talk about "countries sovereign rights", because there is no such thing

this is probably just a backwash from your US discourse on States and if they have rights and which ones versus the USA

a sovereign country has no "rights", i.e. it's not given "rights" from elsewhere, it makes it own "rights", and those are laws and treaties

and a sovereign country backs it's laws and treaties with it's military and it's... diplomacy (vs other sovereigns)

and in this case you see a typical case of sovereign snafu, with France wanting to make a law that is not fully compatible with the treaties it made. so it has to decide if it prefers to change the budget law or to have a new round of rah-rah with the other sovereigns about the treaties, or change the treaties

NWO, EU and EUR. where do you see the freaking connection? look what you wrote here:

"Complete NWO enslavement of the masses of theretofore reasonably free Europeans.

Now defenseless, borders open, dependent entirely upon others, no growth,m few good jobs...."

so we europeans were reasonably free, but are now NWO enslaved? explain how

defenseless, open borders? which ones? those among treaty members, or those versus the rest of the world?

last but not least, which kind of growth do you wish for generally shrinking populations?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 08:44 | 5293713 piratepiet
piratepiet's picture

 

 

Is the European Union not a system of pooled sovereignty ?  Does European law not trump national law ?

Even if the issues at hand are just treaty matters, would other sovereigns not conclude France is an unreliable partner ? 

Do treaties not form part of international law that bind sovereigns ?  Can sovereigns not be in breach of that international law ?

What is the value of treaties if sovereigns can simply cancel them at any point ? ( as you suggest )     

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 03:21 | 5293394 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

I have the feeling I have to repeat this


a sovereign country has no "rights", i.e. it's not given "rights" from elsewhere, it makes it own "rights", and those are it's laws and it's treaties

and a sovereign country backs it's laws and treaties with it's military and it's... diplomacy, which is just another way to say how it engages other sovereigns

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 07:25 | 5293571 GCT
GCT's picture

I do agree with your assessment on sovereign rights of a country Ghordius and it is spot on.  The only problem is the EMU can sanction France with the flow of the EU to enforce its wishes.  Lets not forget France has nukes.  Their military hardware is also state of the art.

France like many other countries in the EMU are in trouble and France's banks are the highest leveraged in the union.  I know I would be a tad pissed having to support their retirement system and in most countries the retirement age is 67. 

 

Nothing is going to really happen in my mind though.  France will just use the new accounting to spend and not report it.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 20:48 | 5292512 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

I wonder if they'll try to do like they did to NATO and tell them " we'll do whatever we want but you still have to protect us". This might just be interesting in a perverted sort of way. Merkel's gonna have to dance a lot faster to keep it from coming unglued.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:24 | 5292004 VAD
VAD's picture

Fucking amateurs running France......just lie about expenditures and you'll be in "compliance".  Rookies.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:01 | 5292113 bbq on whitehou...
bbq on whitehouse lawn's picture

That is the problem 4.3% is the LIE. France is at that point where this is the best they can come up with and still get union support.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:07 | 5292130 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

I think Germany is worried that 4.3% is the lie number and they are really going 10% over.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:17 | 5292181 bbq on whitehou...
bbq on whitehouse lawn's picture

How can they not. I wouldn't even try to guess what those books really look like. Germany is not worred about France or Italy they are worried about German little piggys who are starting to cry more. Once Germany's budget breaks its game over for this stupid little game called the EU.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:29 | 5292216 VAD
VAD's picture

I don't think anybody knows the true state of any books, government or corporate.  It's so easy to fake financial shit, none of it means anything.  It's a Potemkin world.  Invest accordingly.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:54 | 5292298 man of Wool
man of Wool's picture

Like remember Anderson Accounting???

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 05:11 | 5293466 Shropshire Lad
Shropshire Lad's picture

Until they abolish the Euro and allow currencies to set new exchange rates, there will be no ceiling on these deficits.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:25 | 5292006 doctor10
doctor10's picture

So Dean Wormer's going to put them on double triple suspension-like right now?

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:37 | 5292041 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

What the fuck happened to the France I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're gonna let it be the worst. "Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble." Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this.....

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:42 | 5292060 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Wormer, he's a dead man! Niedermeier, DEAD!!!!

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:46 | 5292069 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

Good finish, Senator TeamDependsky.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:49 | 5292078 EINSILVERGUY
EINSILVERGUY's picture

"Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:59 | 5292108 knukles
knukles's picture

Pearl Harbor was meant to be bombed in order to drive the evil White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Oppressors form the sacred native soil.
The Japanese were doing God's work

      - new Common Core History

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:09 | 5292143 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

Thanks for giving me a chuckle tonight guys.

However from another 80's movie: Lighten UP! Knuckles.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:30 | 5292224 Lea
Lea's picture

"What the fuck happened to the France I used to know?"

Like every EU country, it's been overtaken by nice lackeys of America, ready to its bidding to have their picture taken with Obama. That's what happened. You would get more spirit out of a cabbage.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:34 | 5292240 nmewn
nmewn's picture

So it was Obama campaigning for the US presidency at the Brandenburg Gate that did it.

I knew there was something not quite right about that ;-)

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:27 | 5292014 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

The EU Parasites are going to enforce some rules?

Bwa, ha, ha, ha, ha....

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:16 | 5292175 knukles
knukles's picture

They have to make more, first, before they can find out what's in them to enforce if they so see fit.
     - New Modern Civics 101, Common Core Curriculum 

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:20 | 5292189 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Will this be on the test?

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:33 | 5292235 knukles
knukles's picture

Yes.  True or False.  With only one selection.  Everybody gets a blue ribbon for participating.
Recalcitrant children will be blinded with red hot pokers by their class mates.

Amazing the compliance with Groupthink.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:33 | 5292034 Tasty Sandwich
Tasty Sandwich's picture

Almost all of them broke the original 3% GDP deficit limit long before the "debt crisis".

Debt was also supposed to be limited to 60% of GDP, and almost all of them broke that.  For instance, Germany broke that limit more than a decade ago.  Besides the fact that no one actually accurately reports debt and GDP anyway.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:40 | 5292053 DonGenaro
DonGenaro's picture

These are like the "rules" in pro wrasslin'.

And now the ref (i.e. "official") is waving his arms around.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:33 | 5292237 knukles
knukles's picture

The Official is making the "Time for Yank and Tug" motion to the crowd.
The New Normal applause sign

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:40 | 5292055 WhackoWarner
WhackoWarner's picture

Come on. GIVE ME a $2 Walmart solar powered calculator and a couple of heures  and I can make the numbers fit.

 

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:42 | 5292059 Skateboarder
Skateboarder's picture

Credibility of the rules lololololo!!!

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:43 | 5292061 limacon
limacon's picture

If France secedes from EU , there will be huge currency turmoil .

See

http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2011/11/inflation-vs-deflation-ii.html

 

As well as eventual wars . But will Merkel save the EU again ?

See

http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2010/05/financial-crisis-14-may-2010.html

Tue, 10/14/2014 - 16:21 | 5330508 Chewybunny
Chewybunny's picture

There will no longer be a war of physical casualties.

Russia, Europe, and China, all have one common problem that will prevent them from going into a real war: Demographics. 

Each one of these countries are facing a shortage of young people working. Europe is especially struggling, and in China, the one child policy has created a low amount of young workers to offset the costs of the huge and growing pension system.

For God's sake, Germany is now offering free education to American students because it desperately needs young people to come in, educate, assimilate, and work in Germany to keep the old farts living comfortable lives.

I seriously doubt any of these nations would risk sending these extremely needed young people into slaughter - it would cripple them on an unimaginable scale.

 

Their best bet is to make economic wars, faught with resources and economies, not armies. 

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:50 | 5292081 falak pema
falak pema's picture

An ass's body with two heads. Guess who it is.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:49 | 5292082 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Bankers abiding by rules: what are they crazy? Arrest Loyd Blankfein.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:58 | 5292090 ekm1
ekm1's picture

EU's GDP is at minus 6%

Get used to it. Nothing can be done

 

Germany itself is at minus 2%. It can no longer subsidize italy and france and spain via Target2 unpaid bills

Thu, 10/09/2014 - 22:56 | 5312399 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

"EU's GDP is at minus 6%"

Don't worry, they will make it up on volume

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:57 | 5292091 noob
noob's picture

Live by the sword, die by the sword
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_by_the_sword%2C_die_by_the_sword

"Live by the sword, die by the sword" is a saying derived from a biblical parable to the effect that if you use violence, or other harsh means, against other people, you can expect to have those same means used against you; "You can expect to become a victim of whatever means you use to get what you want."

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 18:54 | 5292094 Latitude25
Latitude25's picture

Right.  All of Europe needs to be just like Germany.  Sig Heil.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:06 | 5292131 Wolferl
Wolferl's picture

Nope, let´s say just like ... Austria.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:04 | 5292124 radiobomb
radiobomb's picture

christine lagarde pays no tax & is the world's best paid functionaire...

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:34 | 5292236 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

functionaire?  Is that like a proctologist?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 03:03 | 5293382 damicol
damicol's picture

I've never met a cheat fucking pig ugly dry twat  hooker yet who pays tax ..

Why should this fucking cheap slutty cosk sucker be any different

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 20:57 | 5292223 honestann
honestann's picture

It will be hilarious if the most insane and irresponsible morons of all... take the sane, wise, prudent, responsible action first --- leave the EU and ditch the euro.

The hilarious joke: the USSA is in depression, but buggers the numbers so massively they can report "the economy is growing" when the blatant opposite is true.  Then the congenital liars and manipulators in the EU take the bogus USSA numbers, then pretend to believe them so they can come to the pretend conclusion that "massive fiat printing and egregious government borrow-and-spending leads to recovery" --- in order to justify doing what they all wanted all along.  Except for slightly more responsible Germany, of course, who learned their lesson in spades twice in the 20th century.

Thu, 10/09/2014 - 23:52 | 5312432 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

In the next few months the dollar will make the US look like a functioning country and currency.....  Cleanest shirt on the floor,,,,, or does everyone not store their shirts on the floor?

 

Not that the US should be confused with a functioning country/currency.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 19:53 | 5292294 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

The snake eating it's own tail. 

< applauds >

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 20:10 | 5292355 teslaberry
teslaberry's picture

gdp is so grossly manipulated that it begs the question as to why thye weren't able to manipulate the gdp numbers to simply make the budget what they wanted it. 

 

....go figures. 

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 20:29 | 5292440 jerry_theking_lawler
jerry_theking_lawler's picture

Finally running 'completely' out of other people's money (this time Germany's) and they still want to keep the pedal to the metal....

alas, let them eat cake....off with their heads.....man the pitchforks....

break up the F'ing EU and reinstate national currencies. this is the only way to extend the fraud.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 20:44 | 5292502 numapepi
numapepi's picture

Go figure, The French voted in a socialist and now their economy is in shambles, government spending is skyrocketed and they are drgging down all of Europe. Exactly like Spain, Greece and Italy. Tell the French to raise the dole to 100k a year per person and everthing will be okay.

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 21:07 | 5292560 Playtime's Over
Playtime&#039;s Over's picture

I wouldn't want to be an anglo in England in 20 years.  

Sun, 10/05/2014 - 21:59 | 5292754 MKD
MKD's picture

A minority in your own country

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 07:21 | 5293557 Midnight Hour
Midnight Hour's picture

End of the Euro by next year? Looking like it more and more. France is stuffed with to many useless Mouths and Pockets to fill. In the end like in most EU Countries they will have to say no. Is the US any different? No, printing more than what comes in will hit a Wall one day and then that House of Cards will fall down. Keep stacking and if the price of PM's goes lower, stack even harder, because the end is getting closr.

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