Defiant France tests EU resolve on budget rules

BRUSSELS, Oct 15 (AFP) : France and the EU headed Wednesday for a showdown with deficit-ridden Paris under threat of having its 2015 budget humiliatingly rejected.

The 18 members of the eurozone have until midnight to submit their draft budgets to the European Commission and all eyes are on France, considered the new "sick man" of an increasingly unhealthy Europe.

France announced last month that next year's budget deficit -- the shortfall between revenue and spending -- will hit 4.3 per cent of annual economic output, far above the 3.0-per cent ceiling set by the EU for member states that it had pledged to meet in 2015.