The three most powerful European finance ministers have stepped up their calls for economic reform.

A joint article in the FT, Britain's Gordon Brown, France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Hans Eichel of Germany said reform "must be at the centre of the European agenda for growth".

Warning that growth in Europe has been too slow while unemployment is too high, the three men called for wide ranging reforms.

"To create jobs and growth in the new global era Europe must now embrace a forward-looking economic reform agenda," said the article.

They argued that the major areas needing to be addressed include continued liberalisation of products and services, tackling long-term unemployment, removing red tape and improving the framework for European economic policy.

There was a commitment to push for further progress on the Doha trade round and backing for extra help for developing countries.

The article also called for "effective regulation", warning that "we need to do more to reform and remove unnecessary regulation and lower its costs to encourage growth, enterprise and jobs".

"Finally, Europe must ensure that the framework for its economic policies enables it to deliver strong and stable growth," the article continued.

Debt

With the debate over the future of the EU's growth and stability pact continuing, the finance ministers said that rules on government debt are needed.

But they added that the pact should be more flexible in the range of factors that are taken into account when assessing budgetary positions.

"In short, instead of squandering the moment when a reforming Europe can benefit from the world economic upturn, we should seize it to drive forward growth and job creation," the article said.

However, the French and German view of economic restructuring may not necessarily be the same as Britain's.

In Germany, recent attention has focussed on attempts by Gerhard Schroeder's administration to push forward consolidation in the banking sector.

Deutsche Bank had been encouraged to launch a takeover bid for Germany's biggest retail bank, Postbank.  It had been hoped that the merged company would create a "national champion" capable of taking on larger US banks.

And in France, the government intervened to secure the merger of Sanofi-Synthélabo, a Paris-based pharmaceuticals company, with Franco-German Aventis - a move aimed at creating a French champion in the drugs industry.

Similar support for major national companies has been seen in the recent restructuring negotiations involving troubled engineering firm Alstom.