France’s economic woes are the result of poor policy choices at home and Paris should stop blaming its problems on the strength of the euro, center-right candidate for European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in an interview.
The former prime minister of Luxembourg and long-time head of the Eurogroup forum of eurozone finance ministers spoke days after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls described the strong euro as a threat to French economic growth and jobs.
Valls, a Socialist, urged the European Central Bank (ECB) to adjust policy to weaken the single currency, which reached a two-and-a-half year high just below US$1.40 on Thursday before comments from ECB President Mario Draghi pushed it lower.
Photo: EPA
France, the second biggest economy in the eurozone, has been dogged by high unemployment and weak growth, casting doubt on its ability to meet EU-mandated deficit targets.
The economic weakness was behind French President Francois Hollande’s decision to reshuffle his government last month, bringing in Valls.
“I don’t believe France is the sick man of Europe,” Juncker said after an EU election campaign appearance in Berlin on Thursday. “But I do caution against looking for the causes of what is partly the result of [its] own mistakes somewhere other than at home.”
Juncker, 59, said the strong currency had created problems for a number of eurozone member states, but that its level was the same for all.
“If France has a tougher time than other countries, then the reasons for this are to be found in France, not in exchange rates,” he said.
Speaking earlier, Juncker suggested that the German economy was doing better than France’s because it was run by a center-right leader.
Juncker is the lead candidate for the European People’s Party (EPP) in scheduled May 25 elections for the European Parliament. His main rival for the presidency is Social Democrat Martin Schulz, a German.
In comments that may be more warmly received in France, Juncker also backed the idea of European “industrial champions,” saying governments should use planemaker Airbus SAS as a model in promoting tie-ups across other sectors.
In the past weeks, the French government has intervened to prevent US conglomerate General Electric Co from taking over the energy assets of French rival Alstom SA, by encouraging Germany’s Siemens AG to make a counter-bid.
Paris has argued that a transaction with Siemens has the potential to create two European champions — one in energy, the other in trains. However, Alstom’s management would clearly prefer to sell to GE, and Siemens seems lukewarm on the idea of a deal.
In the interview, Juncker defended the right of governments to intervene in corporate deals that affect their interests, describing Airbus — the Toulouse-based commercial jet manufacturer created by France and Germany as a rival to Boeing Co — as a success story to be copied.
“When the opportunity presents itself to put a [national] champion on a broader footing, we should try to launch European champions,” Juncker said. “Governments shouldn’t decide for companies, but governments have an interest and a right to be part of such decisions.”
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary