France ponders ripping up EU budget rules

Nobody yet knows the winner of France's presidential election next year, but the smart money is on one loser: The three-percent cap on government deficits enshrined in eurozone rules. A bedrock of euro stability for some, the requirement to keep government deficits to below three percent of gross domestic product (GDP) is seen by many as an insufferable straight-jacket on governments wanting to spend their way out of economic sluggishness. Many French politicians, on the left and right, wonder a