German Economy Minister Mr Wolfgang Clement said this morning that the debate about the European Central Bank was "not helpful".
He was referring indirectly to French and Italian demands that the ECB should do more to boost growth.
Earlier this week Italian Prime Minister Mr Silvio Berlusconi said the ECB should broaden its economic remit while French Finance Minister Mr Nicolas Sarkozy said he was bothered by the central bank's 2 per cent inflation target.
Mr Sarkozy said he backed the fight against inflation but questioned the ECB's tight focus on its 2 per cent target and said he wanted more emphasis put on supporting economic growth.
Mr Clement, who has criticised Mr Sarkozy's support for state intervention in the merger of drugs firms Sanofi-Synthelabo and Aventis and the bailout of engineering group Alstom, said the comments did not help the ECB.
"We shouldn't seek to influence the ECB like this, we have to give regard to and respect its independence," he told reporters. "The ECB takes its decisions on the basis of this criterion as well," he said.