PORTO, Portugal Sept 15: French tension with the ECB hit a high on Saturday as President Nicolas Sarkozy accused the central bank of helping speculators and hurting business by not cutting euro zone interest rates.

Sarkozy’s attack, relayed by French daily Le Monde, sparked a spirited defence of the ECB from other euro zone countries as well as ECB boss Jean-Claude Trichet and, above all, his German central bank colleague Axel Weber, all meeting in Portugal.

“The news value of Sarkozy’s critique is zero,” Weber said.

“And it also has zero influence on the ECB. We will do what is necessary and decide what is necessary”.

In the remarks carried by Le Monde, Sarkozy attacked the ECB for pumping emergency loans into money markets in response to the global credit crunch but refusing to cut interest rates, the benchmark for business borrowing.

“It’s strange to me that they’re injecting liquidity without cutting interest rates,” Sarkozy said. “They are making life easier for speculators and harder for businessmen.” Sarkozy looked to be blazing a solo trail when news of his outburst hit Portugal, where finance ministers heaped praise on Trichet for acting fast to prevent money markets from seizing up totally as a credit crunch struck in early August.

“I am of a different opinion to Nicolas Sarkozy. I regard the activities of the ECB as appropriate, as correct,” said Austria’s finance minister, Wilhelm Molterer. —Reuters