French President François Hollande took a thinly veiled swipe at UK Prime Minister David Cameron during his speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday saying it is not possible to have a "two speed Europe"
French President Francois Hollande warned Sunday that the prospects were slim of clinching a deal this week on the European Union's next seven-year budget.
French President François Hollande arrived Thursday in Brussels for tough talks on the European Union's next budget saying he sought compromise, not an ultimatum.
Arnold Schwarzenegger may have a sore throat, but he could still be heard backing French President François Hollande's budget cuts Friday, saying "otherwise you're going in the exact same direction as the United States."
Steel giant ArcelorMittal brought down the axe on two idled blast furnaces in France on Monday after a long showdown with workers, but gave the government two months to find a buyer for the site which has become a symbol of French industrial decline.
France on Friday unveiled action to plug a €37 billion hole in its public finances with the toughest package of tax rises and spending cuts the country has known in an economic downturn.
The French parliament will within three months vote on a law banning profitable firms from closing down a plant and laying off workers without first seeking another company to take over the site, a minister said Friday.
France, facing a €30 billion gap in public finances, announced its latest austerity move Tuesday with the parliamentary budget frozen for five years and lawmakers' expenses cut by 10%.
France's defence budget has been spared the severe cuts expected to be enforced in other areas of government spending next year, defence ministry sources said on Thursday.
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">France's top constitutional body on Wednesday approved a new tax on sugary drinks that aims to fight obesity while giving a boost to state coffers.</span></p>
<p>France's state budget deficit fell by a quarter in October on a 12-month basis, to €99.4 billion from €133.1 billion a year earlier, the budget ministry said on Friday.</p>
<p>France pressured Germany on Thursday to reconsider its firm refusal to allow the European Central Bank to become the lender of last resort to the eurozone's debt-wracked member states.</p>
<p>President Nicolas Sarkozy is not ready to admit it, but France has begun to fear that it will be next in the markets' firing line as the debt crisis spreads from Greece and Italy.</p>
<p>France unveiled a €7 billion austerity package and plans to balance its budget by 2016 on Monday as President Nicolas Sarkozy seeks to protect the country's credit rating ahead of a tough election fight.</p>
<p>The French government on Wednesday presented a tough 2012 austerity budget, promising to balance strained public finances but warning that eurozone debt "turbulence" could yet derail timid growth.</p>
<p>French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government is on Wednesday to present its 2012 austerity budget as it faces stagnant growth, a soaring public deficit and the unresolved eurozone debt crisis.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Tuesday that France would make new proposals to stabilise the financial crisis in the eurozone once a plan to reinforce Europe's bailout fund was in place.</p>
<p>French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to push through a balanced budget amendment, dubbed the "golden rule", to reassure rattled markets, but economists complain the measure is too complicated.</p>
<p>France announced on Wednesday a €12-billion ($17.3 billion) deficit cutting package that raises taxes on the rich and closes tax loopholes as the country strikes to placate jittery markets.</p>
