Industry ministers from seven countries - France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and Romania - sent a letter to the European Commission calling for a change in policy, the paper said.

"Brussels is preventing us from coming up to par in the unfair global competition," French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg told Les Echos, according to excerpts of an interview to be published on Friday.

Industrial production across the 27-member bloc has shrunk in the past five years and millions of jobs have been lost, with the automobile sector having to cut overcapacity in France, Spain and Italy.