Bank of France governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau has urged European states to work together following the impending return of Donald Trump to the US presidency or face economic isolation.
"Europe must wake up," de Galhau told France Inter radio station.
"That was true before the election of Donald Trump - but it is all the more so today" now that the former president, who has promised to hit all imports to the US with at least 10% tariffs, is set to return to the White House in January," he said.
"If I had to sum up the European route map, I would say first off that Europe must get back on its feet. And let's stop castigating ourselves in the process," the governor said.
"We have assets in Europe - Europe must also unite and beef up," he said, citing recommendations from a recent report by former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi to expand the single market, mobilise savings across the EU bloc and simplify a multiplicity of overly complex standards.
If European nations do not work together, "in particular France and Germany, then we will remain on the sidelines of the global economic match", de Galhau warned.
Turning to the French economy, he found "the landscape neither bleak nor uniformly rosy", with "the economy confirming a certain resilience month after month".
De Galhau stressed "there is a great deal of uncertainty among entrepreneurs about the budgetary and fiscal debate in France, and now also the future American policy".
