European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen has said France's economic problems are not a function of the euro exchange rate but lie within the country.

"The core of the problem lies inside the country and not in the foreign exchange rate," Asmussen told the Handelsblatt newspaper, according to advance excerpts of an interview to be published on Monday. "I am glad that the French government has made increasing its competitiveness into a central topic."

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday urged the euro zone to set a mid-term target for its currency's exchange rate. He ran into immediate opposition from Berlin, which opposes intervening on currency markets.

(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt; Editing by Kevin Liffey)