French Prime Minister Manuel Valls repeated Wednesday that the euro was overvalued and he called on the European Central Bank to do more to support the Eurozone economy.
Speaking to business leaders at a conference near Paris, Valls said "the euro is overvalued. It's bad for many of your businesses. It's bad for growth. I have said this since the beginning of April, but I say it again."
Valls noted that the ECB took positive steps to support growth with the measures it announced in June and that the euro had declined by 6% against the dollar since April.
"But we must go further, faster, especially because inflation is too low," Valls said. "I have every confidence that the ECB will fulfill its mandate of inflation close to 2% using all means at its disposal. But time is running out!"
Regarding France's above-target budget deficit, Valls said the "exceptional circumstances" of weak growth and low inflation needed to be taken into consideration.
"Finding new savings to compensate for inflation that is too low and growth that is too weak would be to create austerity and press the brake for all EU countries," Valls said. He added that "the rhythm of deficit reduction must be adapted to the current economic situation."
In his call for a more flexibility view of budget consolidation, Valls also referred to ECB President Mario Draghi's recent comments in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
"As Mario Draghi said at Jackson Hole last week, we can have European budget policies that are more favourable to growth. It is global support for domestic demand in the euro area that is needed," he said.