French President Francois Hollande promised Wednesday that his government would press ahead with reforms to improve competitiveness if granted a two-year extension to meet European Union deficit targets, dpa reported. The European Commission, the EU's executive, has recommended that France - along with Spain - be given until 2015 to bring its deficit below 3 per cent of gross domestic product. The extension must still be approved by member states. Hollande interpreted the move as a concession to French demands that promoting growth must be given greater priority than curbing deficits in tackling the economic crisis and praised the commission's "pragmatism." "The time granted must be used for reforms to competitivity, and therefore for growth," Hollande said after talks in Brussels with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The Socialist president cited plans to reform vocational training requirements, unemployment benefits and retirement policy, insisting this work was necessary "not because Europe demands it," but because it was in France's interest. Barroso had called upon France to present a "credible reform programme," in a French media interview ahead of Hollande's visit. "The French economy needs to halt its loss of competitiveness to create growth and jobs," Barroso later said at a joint press conference with Hollande. "This has not happened for the last 20 years. And so there is a problem that needs to be addressed courageously." Hollande agreed that the problem was a "competitiveness gap" between France and its European partners, adding that this was far more serious than the deficit problem. "Our only ambition must be growth," Hollande said. "This growth will not come from abandoning rules or discipline. It is not more deficits that produce more growth." "But it is true that rapidly reducing deficits very quickly produces less growth," Hollande added.
