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French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said measures to curb and cut budget deficit throughout the eurozone must come with essential policies favourable to growth of the economy.

“This budget consolidation should be accompanied by a greater contribution of European policy for growth”, the premier’s office quoted the PM as saying.

The European Commission unveiled on Wednesday plans to better organise economic standards in the eurozone, which included measures to intensify the control and supervision of national funds.

Fillon “hopes that the concrete European project can be identified in the EU’s 2020 economic strategy, in a bid to help European enterprises to compete globally in the future”, the prime minister’s statement said.

Early in March, the commission presented a novel growth strategy called “Europe 2020”, which centres on investment in innovation and research, employment, green growth, and education.

Among the examples of the growth strategy include digital equipment and services, the need for a true industrial policy, and a better access for small and medium-sized businesses in public control.

“Europe should also, through its economic strategy, promote the states’ efforts for social inclusion and against poverty”.

The French premier emphasised that EU member states must ensure the efficient operation of the European stabilisation scheme.

“This implies a strengthened governance of the eurozone and a return to sound public finance, with monitoring mechanism reinforced and extended to macroeconomic imbalances and the competitiveness disparity”, the statement added.

The commission proposed the reinforcement of EU Stability and Growth Pact that controls the supervision of budget deficits. The EU pact necessitates national deficits below the 3% GDP limit and public debts lower than 60% of GDP.

France is set to enforce a freeze in the spending of the central government for three years starting 2011 as it moves to strengthen the country’s fiscal integrity in the midst of the turmoil that affected the eurozone.

Prime Minister François Fillon earlier stated that the spending of the central government, leaving out pension on civil service and payments on debt interest, would be put to a freeze in cash terms starting 2011. The spending of the central government has risen in the last two years relative to the inflation.

Fillon also stated that the running costs of the government would be cut by 10% over the coming decade.

The nation has a public debit of 8% of gross domestic product (GDP), and the public debt is anticipated to reach 83.6% of the GDP the present year, the forecast of the European Commission states.

A so-called freeze in the spending of the central government will play a little role in lessening the debit because local authorities and the social security system account for a bigger share of public expenditure as opposed to the spending of the central government.

However, with Paris eager to fortify economic policy synchronisation in Europe, the timing of the announcement of Fillon was perfect.

“If everyone is running towards fiscal consolidation, you have to be part of the pack”, noted Gilles Möec, Deutsche Bank’s senior economist.

While President Nicolas Sarkozy had identified the restructuring of pension as the major concern in his last two years in office, it would take some time for the savings to materialise, added the economist.

The French prime minister has broached the issue of human rights with the Syrian government.

Francois Fillon met with Syria’s president on Saturday in an effort to help ameliorate the country’s diplomatic relations with the Western world.

During the meeting the pair discussed the ongoing concerns over human rights issues in the middle eastern state, which has seen a recent increase in action taken against politicians and activists calling for democracy.

The country has been under the single leadership of the Baath party since 1963 when the party seized power and immediately introduced emergency laws outlawing political opposition, which have remained in force until this day.

Human right protesters from across the globe have called for the realease of a number of prisoners in the state, most notably Mohannad as-Hassani, a lawyer jailed last summer on a charge of “weakening national morale” – in contravention of a law he has campaigned against throughout his active career.

Hassani has received support froma  number of prominent French lawyers including head of the Paris Bar, Christian Bournazel, who has opposed his Damascus counterparts expulsion of Hassani calling it a “disgraceful” decision.

Speaking following his meeting with president Bashar al-Assad, Mr Fillon told reporters “Yesterday I exchanged views with President (Bashar al-) Assad on human rights. The discussion was frank and direct.

“Our dialogue with the Syrian authorities permits us to open all the subjects on which we have different views.”

French officials will join forces with Haitian authorities to oversee the adoptions of children orphaned by the recent earthquake.

The news comes following the arrest of US missionaries attempting to take children out of the country.

The group, claimed it was their intention to start an orphanage in the neighbouring  Dominican Republic to cater for the children.

But officials in Haiti say the group, who were travelling with 33 children 20 of whom  have since been discovered to have living parents, acted Illegally and have branded them abductors.

The group, from Idaho, appeared before a court on Thursday and claimed they had not intended any harm by their actions.

They will be held for up to three months while a Haitian judge decides whether or not they should face trial.

And now French ambassador for international adoption, Jean Paul Monchau, has travelled to the crisis-struck country to help advise on adoption policy going forward.

Mr Monchau will work with Haitian officials to put in place processes that are hoped will expedite the checking procedure allowing necessary adoptions to go ahead.

The existing adoption process is being held up by the destruction of a number of family records, and French officials are expected to advise on procedure to account for these losses and ensure the protection of children leaving the country.

Around 330 Haitian orphans have already been taken in by French families and 800 by the US.

Immigrants wishing to settle in France will be asked to sign a declatration of vales, French prime minister revealed this week.

The announcement came after Monday’s conference on national identity which marked the end of a controversial national debate on the issue.

Prime minister Francois Fillon emerged from the meeting of ministers, which had been evaluating feedback from 350 local meeting held across France in the past four months to announce measures intended to secure the countries national identity and promote the French values of “liberté, egalité, fraternité”.

Other changes will include the flying of the French flag at state schools and signing of the national anthem La Marseillaise by French schoolchildren.

Mr Fillon added that a committee was being formed to oversee the measure and devlope futher means of cultivating national pride.

The consultation has drawn criticism in recent months as dialogues have been increasingly hijacked by far right activist who have used to platform to further their xenophobic ideals.

And at the beginning of the year opinion polls showed the majority of French voters wanted to call a halt to the debates fearing they could spark unrest in the country’s 5million strong muslim community.

But minister Fillon said the measures were necessary in order to safeguard French ideals.

He told reporters: “”The emphasis will be put on the respect for the values of the republic, notably the principle of equality between men and women and the level of knowledge of the French language”