NICOLAS SARKOZY has risked provoking German ire by reviving his call for a more activist European Central Bank (ECB) that could better spur growth in the euro zone.
Germany strongly resisted French attempts to pressure the ECB into taking a more interventionist role in calming the debt crisis, and with tensions running high over the issue last November, Mr Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to refrain from making any public demands of the Frankfurt bank.
Under domestic pressure a week before voting begins in the presidential election, however, Mr Sarkozy used a key speech at a rally in Paris yesterday to pledge to seek a new role for the ECB if he wins a second term.
“I want to discuss . . . the role of the Central Bank in supporting growth. This is a question that we cannot avoid. Because if Europe doesn’t want to lose its footing in the world economy, it absolutely needs growth. If Europe is not going to sink in the international economy, it must renew itself through growth.”
Mr Sarkozy trails the socialist challenger François Hollande in opinion polls for next Sunday’s first round, with the latest surveys suggesting his campaign has lost momentum in the past week.
The incumbent has been stung by Mr Hollande’s success in positioning himself as the candidate of economic growth and stimulus. The socialist has pledged that, if elected, he will seek renegotiation of the European fiscal pact to add clauses on growth and solidarity. This has been sharply criticised by Mr Sarkozy and Dr Merkel, but polls show strong support for the stance.
Pushing back yesterday, Mr Sarkozy said he saw growth as a “major strategic problem for Europe” and promised to make it a centrepiece of his term if re-elected.
While the deficit-containment measures included in the European fiscal pact were essential, he said, the EU would “disappear” without growth. The debt crisis had “shown the limits” of the debt and deficit rules set down in the Maastricht treaty, and there “must be no taboos” in discussing how the ECB could play its part.
Addressing thousands of supporters at Place de la Concorde, Mr Sarkozy appealed for votes by framing the election as one of the most important in modern French history. “The future of our country is at stake,” he said. The two frontrunners held simultaneous open-air rallies in Paris yesterday.
Addressing left-wing voters at a vast esplanade in front of the Château de Vincennes, Mr Hollande said he could feel the country was on the brink of change.
“I feel a great hope mounting from the depths of our country. A calm, firm, lucid hope of a change for the better,” he said.
“I am making an appeal to you today. You must come out and vote. Give me the force to win the election on May 6th.”
The rallies were the climax of a week marked by bitter exchanges over the economy. Mr Sarkozy warned that an Hollande victory could spur a crisis of confidence in financial markets, prompting Mr Hollande to accuse him of encouraging speculation to serve his political ends.
The socialist has said he would meet France’s EU commitment of a 3 per cent deficit by 2013 and balance the budget by 2017 – one year later than Mr Sarkozy. He has promised to hire 60,000 new teachers and to pay for this by raising taxes on the rich – a pledge the right claims is untenable.
