(PARIS) - France is not seeking to duck its EU public finance obligations, a top aide to President Nicolas Sarkozy said Sunday, after European leaders called for rules to be eased in light of the credit crunch.

France, Italy, Germany and Britain "recalled that exceptional circumstances can justify bending the rules of the Stability (and Growth) Pact a little," Claude Gueant, Sarkozy's chief of staff, told Europe 1 radio.

"We are facing exceptional circumstances. But recognising the possibility does not mean that France is headed down that road," he said following the European mini-summit in Paris.

The leaders called Saturday for a looser application of deficit and state aid rules for eurozone members, amid tensions over how much leeway to allow.

Sarkozy, who is struggling to rein in France's deficit as the country slides into recession, said leaders agreed the rules "should reflect the exceptional circumstances" facing Europe.

European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso warned in an interview Sunday that the credit crunch "must not be a pretext or an excuse" to overshoot EU deficit limits, saying "adjustments" could be agreed by EU finance ministers on a case-by-case basis.

EU ministers have often clashed over the public finance rules, with Germany defending strict fiscal discipline and France seeking more wiggle room.

The French government unveiled a draft budget last month that scrapped a pledge to stamp out the deficit by 2012.

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