Photographer: Nathan Laine\/Bloomberg <\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) — French President Emmanuel Macron called for a change in approach to monetary policy at the European Central Bank to boost the single market and protect it from the risks of financial crisis.<\/p>\n
In an unusual move by a euro-zone leader to comment on the region\u2019s central bank, Macron said in an interview with Les Echos the ECB needs to think differently if the European Union wants to capitalize on its strengths such as its domestic market and high savings rate.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Most Read from Bloomberg<\/p>\n
With the US dollar and Chinese yuan being used as economic weapons and growth stalling in Europe, \u201cit seems to me that European monetary policy can be significantly adjusted today,\u201d the daily quoted Macron as saying. \u201cReasserting the value of the European internal market means we can\u2019t let inflation be our sole objective, but also growth and employment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Euro-zone leaders typically refrain from commenting on what the central bank should do, with policymakers fiercely defending the institution\u2019s independence as key to its functioning. Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who is on the ECB Governing Council, has joined those strongly criticizing President Donald Trump\u2019s attacks on the US Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n
Unlike the Fed, which has a dual mandate for maximum employment and stable prices, the ECB focuses on inflation, with a target set at around 2% over the medium term. Macron has called previously for a widening of the criteria: in a speech ahead of European elections last year he suggested adding a growth goal and possibly another on decarbonization.<\/p>\n
In Macron\u2019s view, the ECB\u2019s decision to continue selling government bonds risks pushing up long-term interest rates, slowing activity and strengthening the euro, according to Les Echos.<\/p>\n
The ECB declined to comment on the interview. Its president, Christine Lagarde, called last month for more and smarter steps toward fostering European integration, reiterating that a truly single market would mean growth was no longer dependent on the decisions of others.<\/p>\n
\u2018Financial Instability\u2019<\/p>\n
In the interview in which he called on China to act to reduce trade imbalances with the EU or face potential tariffs, Macron also pointed to financial risks from across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing US deregulation in crypto assets and stablecoins creates a non-negligible potential for financial instability,\u201d he said. \u201cOur monetary zone and financial players must continue to be protected. Europe must \u2014 and wants to \u2014 remain a zone of monetary stability and credible investment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photographer: Nathan Laine\/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — French President Emmanuel Macron called for a change in approach to monetary policy…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":432313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[3638,64,22703,79,8703,24524,8697,31188,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-432312","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-bloomberg","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-central-bank","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-emmanuel-macron","13":"tag-european-central-bank","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-financial-crisis","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115681630971336164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}