FILE PHOTO: French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire walks at the Bercy Finance Ministry in Paris, France, May 31, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

BERLIN (Reuters) - French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire welcomed on Friday new German proposals for a reform of the euro zone but said there was still a way to go for the two countries to reach a consensus on an overhaul of the single currency bloc.

Speaking in German at a business conference in Berlin, Le Maire said that proposals laid out last Sunday by German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed Berlin and Paris had similar views and he welcomed her support for an investment budget for the euro zone.

“But we have a way to go in order to get to a common position that is ambitious and targeted,” Le Maire said.

“Our European future is at stake. We must act, it is now or never,” he added.