The European Central Bank President, Mr Wim Duisenberg, defying French expectations that he will serve only half his term in office, said in Paris yesterday that he would not step down after four years.

Asked in an interview with French daily Le Monde whether he would quit after four years, as France assumed, he said: "The answer is `no' ".

His comments, on the eve of the introduction of the euro single currency, were the clearest sign yet that Mr Duisenberg would not serve only half of his eight-year mandate to make way for Bank of France governor Mr Jean-Claude Trichet.

Under heavy pressure from France, Mr Duisenberg promised at an EU summit in May to step down early, ending an acrimonious row over the top European Central Bank (ECB) job, which Paris wanted filled by a Frenchman.

But Mr Duisenberg has been gradually rowing back from that position. Earlier this month, he told the Wall Street Journal that he might well serve a full eight-year term.

ECB chief spokesman Mr Manfred Korber said that Mr Duisenberg's comments in Le Monde were not new. "Mr Duisenberg has not specified any departure dates. His contract runs for the full eight years and that is untouchable," Mr Korber said.

Mr Duisenberg could quit after four-and-a-half, five, or seven years under the ambiguous wording of his May agreement.

The situation creates a dilemma for France, which allocated its executive board seat to ECB vice-president Mr Christian Noyer, appointed for only a four-year term on the assumption that Mr Trichet would take the French place when he became president.

Mr Trichet, in the meantime, will sit on the ECB governing council along with the other 10 euro zone central bank heads.

If he does not take over as president after four years, France would either have to fill its seat on the board and possibly compromise Mr Trichet's chance of succeeding Mr Duisenberg or temporarily cede the place to another state. France, Germany and Italy each has one seat on the board while other states take turns.