French Interior Minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy said today he favoured a re-examination of the European Central Bank's goals.
Mr Sarkozy, who polls say is the leading right-wing candidate for the 2007 presidential elections, said he was pro-Europe but that this did not mean being satisfied with the current situation.
"To be a consistent European is to say to the European Central Bank that there are risks in tightening monetary policy while activity is stagnating," he said in a speech.
"It is urgent that a real economic government be created in the euro zone and that the status and objectives of the ECB be discussed again."
Sarkozy's call comes at a time when other politicians, including the chairman of euro zone finance ministers' meetings, Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker, have been urging the ECB to cooperate more closely with European Union officials on economic and policy issues.
The fiercely independent ECB's primary mandate is to ensure euro zone price stability.
Its self-set goal is to keep the bloc's inflation close to but below 2 percent and it has repeatedly rejected politician's attempts to influence its policy or for any closer cooperation.
Politicians could have tinkered with its independence or its mandate when the European constitution was being hammered out, but those drafting the EU treaty decided to leave the central bank untouched.