The European Commission next week will back deficit and debt-cutting plans from Germany, France and Italy but also urge them to use the economic upswing for more ambitious austerity efforts, draft documents showed.
The Commission will discuss on January 24 the so-called stability and convergence programmes from a first batch of the European Union's 27 member states, which includes the eurozone's top three economies and Slovakia, Cyprus and Denmark.
Countries use the programmes to tell Brussels how they plan to get a balanced budget or a surplus, a medium-term objective under EU rules, which underpin the common euro currency.
Germany, France and Italy are all currently included in the EU's excessive deficit procedure - an EU disciplinary action against member states which breach the bloc's budget deficit ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product.
Germany saw its deficit break the limit each year between 2002 and 2005 but brought its budget gap down to 1.9 percent in 2006. It plans to cut the deficit further to 1.5 percent this year, but foresees no further deficit reduction until 2009.
The Commission urged Berlin to reform the health care system, strengthen fiscal discipline throughout government and ensure planned corporate tax cuts do not hit state revenues.
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