Nicolas Sarkozy will risk angering France’s eurozone partners on Friday when he puts back for a second time the target date for balancing the French budget.

The French president will sign off on a budget for 2009 that envisages a public deficit in 2012 that is “close to balance” – defined as a deficit of 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product – rather than the zero deficit promised to eurozone governments last year.