PARIS (MNI) - The creation of a European monetary fund to aid governments with solvency problems is too controversial to be the first priority of financial reform at the moment, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Tuesday.

While the proposition of the European Commission is "an interesting approach" among others, "it does not appear to me to be the absolute priority at the moment, for the short term," Lagarde said at the inauguration of a Prudential Control Authority for the surveillance of French banks and insurance companies.

In the interest of avoiding a divisive "polemical" debate on the issue, "other avenues should be explored" that are in line with the Lisbon Treaty, the minister said.

France is at odds over the idea with Germany, which proposed such a fund over the weekend. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel conceded on Monday that while she favored the proposal, it would require new EU treaty negotiations.

Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer, who will be the head of the new regulatory body, underscored the need for more transparency in the market for credit default swaps (CDS), given its "important" size and impact on other sectors, like the bond market.

Noyer insisted on the need for at least one CDS clearing platform within the Eurozone and for surveillance by monetary authorities.