The French Finance Minister, Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn yesterday called for cuts in European interest rates. Speaking to a gathering at the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation in Berlin, he said interest rates in the euro zone were currently too high.

The French minister said that while he respected the independence of the European Central Bank, he believed that there was also room for debate between EU governments.

But the European Central Bank has strongly opposed political interference in its power to set monetary policy.

It faced a similar challenge from some political figures last autumn which it resisted, although it did orchestrate a round of co-ordinated European rate cuts in December just before the introduction of the single currency, the euro, on January 1st.