European Central Bank Governing Council member Christian Noyer on Thursday backed moves from many European countries to strengthen their fiscal positions.

I first welcome the commitments from many European countries to strengthen their fiscal position which is a necessary step to restore the credibility of governments and the normalisation of sovereign bond markets, Noyer, who is also the Bank of France governor, told a conference.

Those countries with serious fiscal challenges need to accelerate the pace of fiscal consolidation, he added. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Editing by James Regan)