Hollande under fire from EU over debt and deficit

European finance ministers sent floundering French president François Hollande a firm message that he must keep to his commitments to get both debt and deficit down as agreed.

This was the third piece of bad news for the Socialist leader in as many days, after the left was trounced in local elections and the latest figures show debt and deficit rising rather than falling.

Debt in the eurozone’s second-largest economy has climbed to a record 93.5% from 90.6% last year, while the deficit is 4.3% of GDP. While this is down from 4.9% in 2012, it is higher than the hoped for 4.1%.