BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Wednesday recommended closing a European Union fiscal procedure against France, nine years after it was opened, saying the country had embarked on a “solid” path towards reducing its deficit spending. Pierre Moscovici, the EU’s economy commissioner and a former French finance minister, said that France’s “deficit reduction path is strong and clear” and “is sustainable for 2018 and 2019.”

He said that the decision meant “the end of nine long years” of France’s excessive deficit procedure, during which “difficult and painful” steps had to be taken. After years of spending above the EU limits, France recorded a deficit of 2.6 percent of its gross domestic product last year, as economic growth strengthened and President Emmanuel Macron took office. READ MORE: France Leading EU Producer of Nuclear Power in 2016 — Eurostat

France and Spain are last two countries in the EU, that are under the hazard of the excessive deficit procedure, which can lead to sanctions and fines.
The European Commission recommends to remove France from the excessive deficit procedure which it entered in 2009.