France, Italy, Belgium may break budget rules, EU to revisit in March

By Robin Emmott

The European Commission will tell France, Italy and Belgium on Friday their 2015 budgets risk breaking EU rules, but it will defer decisions on any action until early March.

At that point, France could face a multi-billion euro fine and Italy and Belgium be put on a disciplinary programme.

Draft documents seen by Reuters show the three countries are part of a group also comprising Spain, Portugal, Austria, and Malta at risk of busting budget limits.

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