France needs €43bn cuts

France needs to push through €43bn (£35bn) in budget savings over the next two years if President François Hollande is to meet his deficit reduction targets, the country's national audit office said yesterday.

The auditor said that "repairing our public accounts is indispensable", and added that France's existing 5.8 per cent deficit had put the country in an economic "danger zone".

To meet Mr Hollande's goal of reducing the deficit to 3 per cent by 2014, France will need to put up taxes and cut spending by up €10bn this year and €33bn next year.

France's Prime Minister, Jean-March Ayrault, is set to lay out a broad economic plan today, and the budget will be unveiled tomorrow.