From today’s Open Europe news summary:

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls yesterday unveiled his plan to cut public deficit by €50bn between 2015 and 2017. The new leader of the party, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, said this morning, “We need to change the Maastricht criteria [EU deficit and debt rules], which were elaborated before the crisis”, otherwise the French government’s planned budget cuts “will not be sufficient”. Separately, Martin Schulz MEP, President of the European Parliament, told Handelsblatt that, “We set the deficit criteria in the stability pact 22 years ago, and it must now adapt to the political reality.”
Les Echos: Montebourg La Tribune Le Figaro Le Figaro 2 Le Figaro 3 Le Monde Handelsblatt EUobserver EUobserver 2

This is a typical EU solution–if a country can’t satisfy the rule, change the rule. Problem solved.  Patrick Barron