By Leigh Thomas PARIS (Reuters) - France's new finance and budget ministers said on Wednesday they would focus a budget squeeze on spending cuts first and then tax increases, as the new government faces calls to come up with realistic plans to rein in a spiralling fiscal shortfall.

PARIS (Reuters) - France's financial situation is concerning with the budget deficit at one of its highest levels in history, newly appointed finance minister Antoine Armand said on Tuesday. "The situation is serious ... We are going to work hard to match the seriousness of this situation," Armand told France Inter radio.

France now has "one of the worst" public deficits in its modern history, the newly-installed economy minister said Tuesday, confirming new taxes on the wealthy and big businesses are on

France's budget deficit risks overshooting 6% of economic output this year, the country's new budget minister, Laurent Saint-Martin, told lawmakers in the National Assembly on Wednesday. "I hope and I propose that together we make the choice of turning things around,