The European Central Bank is unlikely to activate its Transmission Protection Instrument to support France despite a sharp rise in the premium on French government bonds. The spread over German debt reached roughly 131 basis points, a 14-year high, while French yields climbed to more than two-decade highs amid persistent deficits, heavy debt and political uncertainty ahead of next year’s presidential election. The TPI allows unlimited bond purchases when a euro zone country faces an unwarranted and disorderly tightening in financing conditions, but France is already under the European Union’s excessive deficit procedure and its fiscal and political strains make those conditions difficult to establish. France’s deficit is projected at 5.4% this year and 5% next year. The facility has never been used. Earlier, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said the ECB’s tools are intended to safeguard price stability rather than target specific spreads. The ECB could first halt quantitative tightening and reinvest maturing bonds if turmoil spreads to other countries. Italian, Greek and Belgian spreads have widened, while Portugal and Spain recorded more modest increases.