"EU member states have to build the single market for finance and also they need to reach a political agreement on the banking union, in order to have more funds for new technologies," Le Maire says
The government was notably working on a plan to provide financial aid to foundry workers so they could train to adapt to other sectors, Le Maire told Europe 1 radio.
The French government will convert a 3 billion euro loan extended to the group last year into a hybrid instrument and commit up to an additional 1 billion euros to a planned share issue, raising its stake in Air France-KLM to almost 30%.
"This will make the state Air France's biggest shareholder," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on France Inter radio, calling the move a "sign of commitment" to the airline and its French jobs.
Gold is seen as a hedge against rising inflation, but firmer Treasury yields, which translate into a higher opportunity cost for holding bullion, have challenged that status.
The minister had already told Sunday paper JDD that economic growth was now likely to come in at 5.0 percent this year and not 6.0 percent as believed earlier.
The new administration of US President Joe Biden is already making payments to households under a new $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package and plans to plough $2.3 trillion into infrastructure investments to fire up the world's biggest economy.
"The best response to US ambition isn't to fight it. It is to match it. Europe needs to challenge itself like America does," he added.
The airline group, which received a 10.4 billion-euro ($12.3 billion) bailout to weather the coronavirus crisis last year, plans to convert 4 billion euros in French and Dutch government loans into hybrid "quasi-equity".
"We are nearing a deal," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on France Info radio, predicting a final agreement within "a matter of days".
Like many countries, France has seen a surge in savings during the coronavirus crisis due to various restrictions on movement that prevented people from spending in bars, restaurants, cultural venues and on trips.
The central bank estimated last month that households had built savings in excess of what could be expected under normal circumstances of up 120 billion euros ($144.4 billion) last year.
Le Maire said talks on rewriting decades-old rules on cross-border taxation needed to wrap up by summer and that a new allocation of International Monetary Fund (IMF) special drawing rights, along with a new G20 framework to ease poor countries' debt, were needed.