The European Commission, acting as the 28-nation bloc's economic watchdog, is urging Italy and France to do more to bring their debt under control and push ahead with structural reforms to promote growth.
Monday's recommendations come just a week after the European Parliament elections, in which Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's center-left party mustered strong support partly by calling for more leeway from Brussels'-dictated economic policies.
France's governing Socialists took a beating in the elections and are now facing the balancing act of complying with tough economic policy constraints while restoring the government's popularity.
The Commission called on Italy to "reinforce budgetary measures'' this year to reduce its debt pile and urged France to detail its measures to ensure "the correction of the excessive deficit'' this and next year.
APTN