French President Francois Hollande told the weekly "Journal du Dimanche" that the European Union "cannot be reduced to rules, mechanisms or disciplines," but should be strengthened through better economic integration. He also said the euro should have its own government, budget and parliament.

The comments were published Sunday alongside a profile of Jacques Delors, the former head of the European Commission and one of the architects of the euro.

Hollande said "the European spirit prevailed" to avoid a Greek exit from the euro, but warned however that "we cannot stand still."

European leaders agreed this week to begin negotiations on a third bailout to save cash-strapped Greece from economic collapse. Some analysts have argued that the Greek crisis - which saw the country amass successive deficits and a mountain of debt - stemmed from a lack of centralized power over national fiscal policies within the 19 eurozone member states.

'Growing disenchantment'

Back in 2011, Delors said the crisis facing the euro required member states either to accept greater economic cooperation or a transfer of more national powers to the EU's center.

"I have proposed taking up Jacques Delors' idea about euro government, with the addition of a specific budget and a parliament to ensure democratic control," Hollande said in the published interview.

"Sharing a currency is far more than wanting (economic) convergence," the French president added. "It's a choice that 19 countries have made because it was in their interest...This choice calls for strengthened organization and, among the countries that will decide it, a vanguard."

Hollande lamented that Europe had "allowed its institutions to weaken," leading to a growing detachment among Europeans from the idea of a union.

He said "populists have taken advantage of that disenchantment," and that it was up to the EU to "convince people it has been able to preserve peace, and is now the best invention to protect the values and the principles that underpin our common culture."

nm/tj (AFP, Reuters, EFE)