christian noyer : no one should, nor can, manipulate their currency – interview in le figaro interview with mr christian noyer, governor of the bank of france and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, in le figaro, paris, conducted by ms isabelle chaperon, ms bertille bayart and mr jean - pierre robin on 9 november 2010 and published on 11 november 2010. * * * interview – on the eve of the g20 in seoul, the governor of the banque de france advocates an “ orderly and calm ” discussion on the international monetary system. le figaro – last week, the us federal reserve pumped usd 600 billion into the economy. this decision has been harshly criticised. how do you view it? christian noyer – we raised this issue last weekend at the bank for international settlements in basel. fed officials explained this action in the light of their mandate, their goal of reviving the us economy and the risk of deflation. they assured us that they had no deliberate intention to devalue the dollar. and i have no reason not to believe them. le figaro – the fed seems much more accommodating than the ecb... are the economic situations so different? christian noyer – saying that the fed is very accommodating and the ecb very stringent does not reflect reality. in europe, our monetary policy is still marked by the non - standard measures tailored to the structure of our economy. in this respect, we do not think there is any risk of deflation in the euro area, or inflation for that matter. furthermore, the united states may be substantially below its long - term growth potential, whereas the euro area is relatively close. le figaro – nonetheless, the dollar is sliding and we seem to be moving away from the close cooperation seen between central banks during the crisis... christian noyer – first, everything does not come down to the dollar. for example, there are emerging countries that, by not being sufficiently flexible in their exchange rate policy, have monetary policies that are inappropriate and create risks to inflation and growth. moreover, while each central bank is pursuing a policy appropriate to its country ’ s situation, nobody wants to move away from the goal of consistency. we are all committed to ensure a framework for balanced growth, and that commitment remains just as strong. as reiterated at the last meeting of g20 finance ministers and central bank governors, no one should or

' speeches this is its great economic success, together with the euro. but it is vital to remain vigilant as to the dangers of fragmentation with the covid crisis. national governments acted appropriately during the critical phase, adopting emergency measures in particular to provide liquidity support to their businesses. but the single market means common rules for businesses : if this were not the case, the divergence between our economies could regrettably increase further. it is therefore necessary to quickly restore the commission's control over state aid and fair competition furthermore, we must revive the single market, above all because we can optimise its power by combining its various components much better : free movement of goods, naturally ; but also the cross - border financing capacity with the financing union ; and last but not least, regulatory power. there are still too many implicit borders and too much fragmentation. we must use regulatory power to guide innovations - the example of the general regulation on data protection ( gdpr ), have the courage to develop an industrial policy with public - private partnerships, as in the case of artificial intelligence and batteries, and make progress, for example, on franco - german business law. climate change and carbon tax lastly, the ecological transition is clearly one of our common structural priorities and carbon tax is generally considered to be the most effective instrument to fight global warming. the european agreement of 21 july provides for the commission proposing in the first half of 2021 a " carbon border adjustment mechanism ", accompanied by a " revised emissions trading system, possibly extending it to the aviation and maritime sectors. " the advantage of this solution is that it provides the european union with a resource of its own and restores fair competition between european products and imported products that have a higher carbon footprint. the success of this instrument will depend on our negotiations at the wto, and on its more extensive integration into european policies ( transport, industrial policy, etc. ). * * earlier i mentioned the difference in terminology between french and german : the french use " couple ", while the germans speak of " engine ". but i will conclude by quoting a frenchman, clement beaune, the new minister for european affairs, who i believe sums up the situation eloquently : " celebration is necessary, but it is never enough and does not dispense with what has for six decades been the unique strength of the franco - german relationship : a working relationship, organised at all levels of our political and administrative life, whose power stems from the