France, Germany to discuss rigour of EU fiscal rules

France and Germany will discuss later this month how strict new EU fiscal and debt rules should be, to create a basis for a pan-European deal by the end of the year, the finance ministers of both countries said on Thursday.

The talks are part of a revision of the EU's fiscal rules that underpin the euro and that financial markets are watching closely. The rules have been suspended since 2020 but are to be reinstated from 2024, and EU governments want to update them before they kick in again.

"A Franco-German initiative could lead to a mutual understanding among all EU member states," German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said, echoing a widely held view among EU diplomats that once the bloc's two biggest countries reach agreement, others will accept it too.

Lindner said before a meeting of EU finance ministers that French counterpart Bruno le Maire would...