Draft papers seen by Reuters and others showed that France, Italy and Belgium led a group of EU member countries at risk of busting budget limits.

The documents indicated that the EU Commission would defer decisions on any disciplinary action until early March of next year to give those lagging behind more time to come up with concrete plans on how to stick to the rules in the future.

The EU executive is to publish the assessments of all the draft budgets of the eurozone countries later on Friday, with the sole exception of Greece and Cyprus which remain under international bailout programs.

Ratcheting up the pressure

The assessments have been introduced as a new power of the Commission in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis to make sure governments do not ignore EU rules that set limits on the size of public debt and deficits.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted as saying no final decisions on sanctions would be taken right now to let governments provide precise measures and timetables - not mere promises - to address budget problems.

By March, France could face a multi-billion euro fine and Italy and Belgium could be put on a disciplinary program for failing to significantly reduce fresh borrowing. Such a program would involve setting annual targets for fiscal policy, closer monitoring and eventually fines for non-compliance.

hg/cjc (Reuters, AFP)