Brussels, 17/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - In an interview published on Monday in the French business paper Less Echos, the French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin called for a new interest rate cut by the European Central Bank in order to stimulate the European Union economy. He said there was still room for a further ECB rate cut. Asked about the euro-dollar exchange rate over the past few months, Raffarin said the business leaders he met with were remaining vigilant and had to fear a protracted weak dollar strategy. He said that he did not believe the United States would boycott French companies because of France's opposition to a war on Iraq, adding that trade had become a very strong value between the US and France, which no longer depended on politics as in the past. The French prime minister said nothing negative had come to the fore.