ECB’s Villeroy: Public Debt and Deficit a Problem in Some Major EU Countries

4 September 2024

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau acknowledged on Wednesday that fiscal affairs in some major European countries, including France, were problematic.

Speaking on a panel about EU financial services at the Bruegel Annual Conference in Brussels, Villeroy, who heads the Banque de France, said that 'public debt and deficits remain very high in some major EU countries.'

'In this context, it is imperative to better mobilise our abundant private savings in order to fund the needed investments', he said.

Despite concerns about a potential recession and a ‘serious stability problem’ on the financial front after more than two years of restrictive monetary policy, he said, Europe's ‘track record on financial stability is much more than honourable’.

‘We should not increase requirements and regulation' in the banking sector, he said. 'But the next challenge is to take into account growth competitiveness and the allocation function of finance.'