In his state of the union speech before the European Parliament on Wednesday 12 September (see other articles), the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, announced that the institution would present an initiative before the end of the year, to allow the single currency to play a greater role on the international stage.
Although Juncker did not go into detail on the form that this initiative will take, the Commission talks of a communication, with no further clarification concerning its form or content, in a letter of intent to Antonio Tajani, the President of the European Parliament, and Sebastian Kurz, Austrian Chancellor and President-in-exercise of the Council of the EU.
The Commission President considers it “absurd that Europe pays for 80% of its energy import bill” in dollars, when just 2% of energy imports come from the United States. He also regretted the fact that “European [airlines) buy European planes in dollars instead of Euro” – nearly twenty years after the single currency was created.
The forthcoming initiative therefore aims to make the euro the instrument of a “more sovereign” Europe, he added.
However, Juncker took pains to stress that bolstering the single currency internationally could only be done by deepening and reinforcing Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). With work following up from the European Commission's proposals underway at the Council of the EU and the Eurogroup to do this (see EUROPE 12091, 12092), Juncker expressed his hopes that this work would move forward at a significant pace. “Without [a stronger Economic and Monetary Union], we will lack the means to strengthen the international role of the euro”, he said.
The Commission President also briefly addressed the people and leaders of Greece, the Hellenic Republic having come out of the third and final aid plan on 20 August of this year (see EUROPE 12077). “I applaud the people of Greece for their Herculean efforts. Efforts which other Europeans continue to underestimate”, he said. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)