European Central Bank board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said the euro must not be used as a scapegoat for the economic problems faced by euro zone countries. French politicians have repeatedly criticised the ECB and the strength of the euro for the problems of the French economy. "We cannot build the future of Europe if we constantly call into question what has been achieved and put in place, like the euro, or call into question institutional agreements such as the independence of the European Central Bank," Bini Smaghi said in a speech. He said eight euro zone countries have had a growth performance as strong as that of the US, which shows that Europe can match the results achieved by the world's most dynamic economies without major social costs. But the major euro zone economies -- Germany, France and Italy -- have found it more difficult to implement economic reforms and therefore have not kept pace with the US, Bini Smaghi said. "In countries where it has been difficult to make reforms, it has sometimes been easier to blame Europe and the euro, even in the case of errors in the management of certain companies or obvious errors in the implementation of national economic and social policies," he said. Many of the problems faced by euro zone workers relate to competition from emerging economies and technological change, he said. "This is something which is taking place in all the industrialised economies (and so it is) not connected to the euro," he said. Bini Smaghi said the euro zone countries have performed better in terms of output growth, inflation, unemployment, job creation, fiscal deficits and interest rates in the eight years since the launch of the euro than in the eight years before. The only indicator which has shown a deterioration is the public debt ratio, which has increased by 2 percentage points of GDP, he said. However, Bini Smaghi said the proportion of world GDP accounted for by the major euro zone economies is declining due to the strong growth of the major emerging economies. They therefore need to move increasingly to a system of a single European representation in international organisations where world economic issues are discussed, he said. He said Germany, France and Italy now account for around 6 pct of world GDP, compared with 14.5 pct in 1980. "What do these figures mean? Individually European countries will have a more and more limited role in future, and will be overtaken by China, India and other emerging countries," he said.