The Macron government had pledged to cut France’s public spending – the highest among rich countries –, but was thrown off course by the costly yellow vest revolt. The warning letter sent to Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and signed by economic commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Pierre Moscovici said that a preliminary assessment of the 2020 draft budget showed that Paris would likely breach EU rules on public debts. France expects to see no structural improvement next year, contrary to EU requests for an improvement worth 0.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Mr Le Maire said Paris would send over the requested clarifications, but stressed that he had made a “political choice” to lower taxes in a bid to address the “social issues” spurred by the yellow vest crisis and the slowdown of the global economy.

France will continue to “respect its European commitments to consolidate public finances and reduce its debt,” he added. “In a period of economic slowdown, we have chosen to lower taxes and change the pace of fiscal consolidation”.

He also defended his budget by stressing that the deficit – at 2.2 percent of output – would be the lowest “in nearly twenty years”.

With scores of lower-income families struggling to make ends meet, President Emmanuel Macron faced a sudden and bitter backlash at the end of last year against his pro-business reform push.

The anger boiled over into some of the worst street violence in decades, led by so-called “yellow vest” protesters clad in high-visibility jackets.

In response to the unrest, Mr Macron gave a first jolt of emergency tax relief this year to poor workers and households worth more than 10 billion euros (£8.6 billion), with a second wave to follow next year.

“This is an unprecedented tax cut. It’s a fact that tax cuts have been stepped up in response to the yellow vests,” budget minister Gerald Darmanin told France Inter radio last month.

Mr Le Maire made similar comments as he unveiled the draft budget late September, arguing that the social revolt brought on by the protests had “led us to make decisions that encourage investment and consumption”.

The Macron government also intends to get rid of some tax breaks, loopholes and exemptions to help pay for the tax cuts.

Along with the tax relief, Mr Macron has said that government spending would be squeezed and that the French would have to work longer to build up social contributions.

The yellow vest revolt and promised tax cuts come as France is scrambling to keep its budget in check, while at the same time hoping to shake off its reputation as the world’s most highly taxed country.

Figures from the OECD show that France’s ‘tax-take’ is equal to 54 percent of GDP.

The Commission, whose role is to address the budgets of all euro zone countries, also sent out warnings to Spain, Portugal and Belgium, where governments were unable to submit complete budgets by the October 15 deadline because of recent elections.

A warning letter was also sent to Italy and Finland over concerns their draft budgets fall short of EU fiscal recommendations to reduce spending.

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