Brussels/Frankfurt - A war of words erupted on Wednesday between the European Union's executive and the head of its largest member's central bank as officials accused one another of "surprising" acts and "misinformed" decisions.

The policies of the EU's executive, the European Commission, have been aimed at reducing major cross-border banks to national players "rather than fostering their pan-European endeavours," Axel Weber, the powerful head of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, said in an interview with the Financial Times.

"I find it surprising, to say the least, that (EU) institutions view cross-border operations within the EU as foreign operations," he said.

Commission officials were quick to reject his claims.

"It is not helpful for people to make misguided public comments concerning the commission's approach to state aid for banks without first discussing the matter with the commission itself," commission competition spokesman Jonathan Todd told reporters in Brussels.

Weber's comments were "misinformed" and based on a "clear misunderstanding" of commission policies, Todd said.

The highly-public row between the EU's executive and one of its most influential central bankers comes as EU member states are struggling to prop up banks ravaged by the global financial storm.

The commission is currently grappling with a German plan to bail out the country's second-largest bank, Commerzbank, with an 18-billion-euro (23.2-billion-dollar) rescue package. (dpa)