法国或面临制裁的风险

 　　PARIS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- European Commission (EC) President, Jose Manuel Barroso on Sunday said sanction measures would be considered if France failed to meet its financial commitment

　　He urged the government to take more audacious reforms to respect its economic pledges.

　　"France made significant efforts over the past five years, but if the commission believes that the country did not respect the stability pact¹, it has the duty to act. There are procedures to be followed," the EC president said.

　　Speaking to the local broadcaster Europe 1, Barroso hailed efforts of the eurozone's main powerhouse to fix domestic economic problems but pointed² that further audacious reforms were still needed mainly to improve competitiveness.

　　"In our opinion, France's main problem is (how to boost) competitiveness. If it does not solve this problem, there will be no growth," the European official said.

　　"The French government announced that it would take measures to offset³ the increased costs on businesses and... this is a problem because we do not create favorable conditions for job creation," he added.

　　The European Union offered France two extra years to reach its financial commitments and "to correct the excessive deficit⁴ at the latest by 2015" instead of 2013.

　　Presenting their draft budget for 2014 last Wednesday, the Socialist⁵ government cut its 2014 growth estimate to 0.9 percent from a previous forecast of 1.2 percent and hiked the budget gap target initially⁶ set at 3.7 percent to 4.1 percent.

1 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

4 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。

5 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。