France's Macron says euro zone needs its own budget, a finance minister

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday reaffirmed that he wanted the euro zone to have its own budget and finance minister, adding that it was key to ensure the stability of the single currency union and to weather economic shocks. "The fundamental issue at stake is not a mechanism which will magically solve all our problems," Macron said in a speech on the future of Europe. "What is at stake is to reduce unemployment which affects one in five European youths." He added that his idea was not about "mutualizing past debts" or about trying to "resolve the public finance problems of one state or another". (Reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey; Writing by Ingrid Melander)