French finance minister says deficit reduction plan less ambitious if government falls

(Reuters) -French Finance Minister Eric Lombard said the government would inevitably have to compromise on plans to cut the budget deficit if Prime Minister Francois Bayrou is toppled in a confidence vote next week, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Lombard said in an interview with the newspaper that fresh negotiations would require the government to make concessions to the left to reduce the size of the fiscal package if the government fell.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue)