"We will not allow a private company to have the same power, the same monetary power as sovereign states," he added. "The major difference between Facebook and governments is that we are subject to democratic control, that is the control of the people."
The Group of Seven economies on Thursday had said any reserve-backed digital currency like Libra - known as a stablecoin - would require a sound legal framework before entering circulation. But European officials say they want to go even further by blocking the currency outright. Like Le Maire, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz also said Friday he was "very skeptical" about Libra.
"I favor not allowing the establishment of such a global currency because that is the responsibility of democratic states," he said. But Scholz said he recognized the need for banking reforms to make cross-border payments more simple, cheap and speedy.
"At the same time, we must protect the autonomy of democratic states," he said. Libra also has faced challenges from within after major financial and commercial players in recent weeks have backed out of the project, including Visa, Mastercard, eBay, Stripe, PayPal and the online travel firm Bookings Holdings.
But the Libra Association has tried to ward off a blockade by saying it will address the concerns posed by government officials. "I repeat our priority today is to work with regulators to answer their legitimate questions and provide all necessary assurances," said Bertrand Perez, managing director of the association.
Le Maire, however, appeared to rule out such cooperation with Facebook, noting that the social media giant planned to tie its cryptocurrency to a basket of reserve assets. "All Facebook would have to do would be to decide to use more or fewer dollars or euros to affect the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar, and thus have a direct impact on trade, industry and nations which use the dollar or euro as their base currency," he said.
This could harm monetary policy and affect governments' efficiency, he added. "Do we want to put monetary policy in the hands of a private company like Facebook? My answer is clearly no," he said. Still, he said he was not opposed to the creation of a digital currency, which France could develop "in a European framework."
The Libra association officially launched Monday in Geneva with 21 founding members, including the telecoms firms Vodafone and Iliad, as well as tech outfits Uber, Spotify and Farfetch, blockchain operations such as Anchorage, Xapo and Coinbase and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.