Germany says all EU states, big and small, agreed to cut budgets

BERLIN: A German finance ministry spokesman, asked on Wednesday about France's struggle to bring its budget deficit within European Union guidelines, said all member states, large and small, had agreed to the same fiscal reform targets.

"I think it's right that all European Union states have pledged to do the necessary reforms and structural programmes etc, and that is true of large and small member states alike," ministry spokesman Martin Kotthaus told a news conference.

Paris has acknowledged its headline public deficit will be higher than planned by the end of 2017. France wants more time to get its finances in shape after conceded it would fail to cut the deficit down to 3 percent of output in 2013.