EU to give Czech Republic deficit warning next week

The European Commission will warn the Czech Republic next week that it is failing to do enough to rein in its public finance deficit: a statement was issued by an EU official on Thursday. The European Union launched legal action against the Czech Republic in 2004 requiring the country to bring its deficit below an EU-limit of three percent of the gross domestic product by 2008. Although the Czech deficit is thought to have dropped within the limit to 2.9 percent last year, the Commission's most recent forecasts predict it rising to 3.9 percent in 2007.