French PM urges lawmakers to approve fiscal treaty

[September 19, 2012]  PARIS (AP) -- The French government is urging lawmakers to ratify Europe's "Fiscal Compact," an agreement aimed at slashing spending and containing the debt crisis.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will present a legislative package to parliament next week. It will include a bill that lays out how the government plans to erase its deficit and what happens if it strays from that path. France hasn't balanced a budget in decades and also flouts European requirements that deficits be less than 3 percent of gross domestic product.

The bill is expected to pass but not sail through parliament. Some members of the ruling Socialist Party complain that President Francois Hollande didn't live up to promises to veto the budget treaty if it didn't include growth measures. Hollande instead pushed for a separate growth pact.

[Associated Press]

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