French Fin Min-'90% In Agreement w/Germany' On SGP Reform

Wires carrying comments from French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire ahead of today's Eurogroup meeting of his eurozone and EU counterparts. States that France is "90% in agreement with Germany on reform of the EU's stability and growth pact'.

• Claims that "France has made concessions, but our red line is that incentives to invest and reform must be kept...We cannot accept that countries in the excessive deficit procedure are kept from making investments and reforms. '
• Le Maire: 'EU needs fiscal rules that are clear, firm and credible that can realistically be applied.'
• France seen as lining up alongside Italy in pressing for a more accomodative stance towards counties boosting defence spending or investing in green tech/climate change mitigation when it comes to judging debt and deficit levels.
• MNI's Policy team reported earlier in the week regarding Italy's tough path to qualifying for future tranches of the EUR200bn NextGenerationEU funding should fiscal rules be tightened, setting up a potential showdown with the EU 'frugals' (see 'MNI: Italy Faces Tough Deadlines For NextGenEU Cash-Officials', 5 Dec)