Hollande pledges to put public finances in order by 2017

 　　PARIS, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- French President Francois Hollande on Saturday reiterated¹ his promise to reach zero deficit² by 2017 via public spending cuts and growth stimulus³.

　　"The path is that of achieving a balanced public finances at the end of the mandate⁴. To meet that goal, there is no need to add more austerity in 2013. A lot has already been asked of the taxpayer," Hollande said during an annual agriculture show in Paris.

　　In a bid to respect the EU deficit limit of 3 percent, Hollande planned in 2014 to squeeze public spending by clinching⁵ the belt of the state budget, local budgets and the social security budget.

　　On Friday, The European Commission painted a grim picture of the French economy set to flatline with just 0.1-percent growth, while the country's budget gap will remain above the European safe line.

　　"Figures from the European Commission take into account the slowdown and even recession throughout Europe... The Commission notes that we have made a considerable effort," the president said.

　　With an expected feeble growth, the unemployment rate would rise further, Hollande acknowledged.

　　"If we can accelerate, anticipate recovery in 2014, we will create more new jobs," he added.

　　Expecting "a great battle for jobs" in 2013, the French head of state pledged to overturn the alarming unemployment rise by the end of this year through tens of thousands of state-sponsored job contracts.

1 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

2 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

3 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

4 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

5 clinching   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• Joe gets clinching evidence of the brains role when he dreams. 乔做梦时得到了大脑发生作用的决定性依据。 来自辞典例句
• Clinching, wrestling, pushing, or seizing, without attempting a throw or other technique. 抱，扭摔，推或抓而没有摔或其它的技术。 来自互联网