THE nights are drawing in and there is a sharper bite to the wind, yet it is a time of renewal in Brussels. New leaders are taking office, brimming with fresh ideas and hoping to sweep away stale old debates.With one exception. In what feels like the latest installment of a sagging film franchise, a row is looming over France’s budget. Under euro-zone rules, France is meant to reduce its budget deficit below 3% of GDP by next year, a deadline that has already been extended twice. But last month it announced that it would do no such thing. The deficit, said Michel Sapin, the finance minister, would rise to 4.4% this year and fall below 3% only by 2017. Italy, under the leadership of Matteo Renzi, also questions the rules.This presents a nasty test for the European Commission, which oversees the budgets of euro members. It does not relish the prospect of a bust-up with the second- and third-largest countries in the euro zone. But after several painful years in which leaders carefully crafted binding rules to keep the wayward in line, it cannot afford to bend at the first sign of trouble. Indeed, a failure to enforce the rules could be challenged in court. To add to…
