French Socialist Hollande Wants Growth Added to ECB Mandate

Francois Hollande, the Socialist candidate in France’s presidential election campaign, said he wants the European Central Bank’s mandate to include spurring economic growth as well as maintaining price stability.

The ECB’s injection of liquidity over the past three months was a step in the right direction, though it may need to go further in the long run, Hollande said at a meeting of European socialist parties in Paris on March 17.

The bank “has bolstered its intervention and that’s a laudable change,” Hollande said, according to the text of the speech. “It should also go further in playing its role as lender of last resort. I know that this position isn’t shared everywhere in Europe but we don’t rule out changing the mandate” of the ECB, he added.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Deen in Paris at markdeen@bloomberg.net; Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net