(Bloomberg) -- The European Union shouldn’t fund further programs until countries have gotten their finances in order, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said.

“What we don’t need is new European community debt to finance new subsidies with which politicians want to steer the economy,” Lindner told reporters on Thursday ahead of a meeting of euro-area finance ministers in Luxembourg.

His comments came only days after France said its deficit will be wider than anticipated and the Italian government gave forecasts showing its mammoth debt rising in the next few years. That in turn has sparked concerns about whether EU states will be able to stick to new budget rules approved last year.

“I think these new rules will help all member states maintain sound public finances or to return to sound public finances,” Lindner said.  “The current developments show it’s not for granted to see lower deficit, we all have to make efforts as finance ministers to reduce deficits and to exit these crisis measures we have introduced over the past years.”

The EU’s fiscal rules were reactivated early this year after being suspended since 2020 to facilitate the extraordinary national spending required to weather the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy crisis. The bloc is in the process of ratifying a rules change that would give more leeway to member states to design their fiscal path in time for their drafting of next year’s budgets.

About a dozen countries are expected to have infringement procedures confirmed against them due to 2023 accounts not in line with the 3% EU deficit limit. Italy with a deficit at 7.2% in 2023 and debt at 137% of economic output is among them.

The Italian government said in its updated economic forecasts earlier this week that it sees debt rising in future peaking at 139.8% in 2026. Deficit isn’t seen going below the 3% limit until 2027. The numbers don’t acknowledge potential changes in legislation that Premier Giorgia Meloni’s government could enact in the coming months. 

The French government said Wednesday it expected a shortfall of 5.1% this year and 4.1% in 2025, compared to previous forecasts of 4.4% and 3.7%. 

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has told member states that it will open infringement procedures against those countries that violated the 3% deficit threshold last year, once it receives the final data from Eurostat this month. The economies involved however, will be notified only after the European elections in early June.

If countries fail to meet such efforts, the procedure could, in theory, lead to sanctions but no member state has ever been fined despite numerous breaches.

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