EU authorities, which recently granted France an additional two years to rein in its spending deficit, are nonetheless pressing Paris to push through reforms, writes Le Figaro.

On May 7, a day when French and German finance ministers — Pierre Moscovici and Wolfgang Schäuble — met in Berlin, the European Commission recommended that France should implement “audacious” reforms to improve competitiveness. Adding weight to this request, European Commission President Herman Van Rompuy urged Paris to introduce “far reaching” reform.

However, the conservative daily notes —