--Says Balance Between ECB Board, National Central Banks Is Unclear
--Criticizes US Past Handling Of Economy, Says Soft Landing 'Difficult'

ROME (MktNews) - Italian Treasury Minister Vincenzo Visco said in a newspaper interview published Friday that the eurozone would benefit from an ECB monetary policy which were more focused on the need to support economic growth.
Addressing the changes necessary for the eurozone economy, Visco said "we need to adopt sectorial (economic) policies; a monetary policy which is more concerned about growth; and reforms able to make the whole eurozone more flexible."
Speaking to the financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore, Visco also said the current structure of the ECB was muddled, "in which no-one can understand what the balance (of roles) is, between the (executive) board in Frankfurt and the national central banks."
Visco reiterated his frequent calls for increased eurozone economic co-ordination, saying: "The main problem for Europe is how to really become a single area."
Visco also seemed to cast doubt on the prospects of a soft-landing in the United States, and appeared critical of the US's handling of the economy in recent years.
"Fiscal policy has been prudent, while monetary policy has been very oriented towards sustaining the stock market. That created a frightening internal boom and a frightening external deficit."
"That isn't a particularly healthy way of running the economy because in the end you find yourself with a speculative stock-market bubble and external debt around your shoulders. In these conditions, a soft landing becomes difficult," he said.