A waiter checks the vaccine pass of customers arriving at a restaurant in central Paris, France. Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast . French inflation slowed less than expected, raising pressure on the European Central Bank to reassess its plan to exit crisis-era stimulus more gradually than counterparts in the U.S. and U.K. Consumer prices in the euro area’s second-largest economy rose 3.3% from a year earlier in January, a sharper gain than the 2.9% economists estimated following December’s 3.4% advance. The reading follows data Monday from Spain and Germany that also showed inflation rates running higher than expected at the start of 2022. The stronger price picture in the euro region represents a growing challenge for the ECB after policy makers repeatedly said the surge would prove temporary. While the Frankfurt-based institution is slowly winding down pandemic-era support, […]