France believes that the European Central Bank's present monetary policy is fundamentally misguided but will not push for a revision of the statutes that enshrine the bank's independence from political pressure, the Elysée Palace said yesterday.

As it launched France's long-awaited European Union presidency, the Elysée said it wanted to open up public debates on sensitive topics such as the ECB's approach to economic growth and inflation, the EU's stance in the Doha talks on liberalising world trade, EU immigration policy and much else besides.