The European Commissioner for Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, called, on Tuesday 2 June, for a stronger international role for the euro as a necessary tool for EU sovereignty, particularly faced with the dollar’s historic dominance. It was a bold speech, delivered in Brussels at a conference at the European Commission, openly displaying a determination to use the single currency as an instrument of geopolitical power.
“It means insulation from the use of financial channels as instruments of political coercion”, Mr Dombrovskis said.
Presenting the internationalisation of the euro as a response to the upheavals in the global economic order, the European Commissioner said that the single currency should enable the European Union to act “in our own interest and on our own terms”, without depending on financial infrastructures controlled by other powers.
In addition, Mr Dombroskis stressed that the turbulence caused by the US tariff announcements of April 2025 had revealed a possible shift in investor behaviour. Referring to an episode described by some as a “reserve currency shock”, the Commissioner suggested that markets might be more inclined to seek alternatives to the dollar as a safe haven.
Mr Dombrovskis drew a direct link between monetary power and military capability, breaking with the previously more technocratic tone of European speeches on the euro.
“A currency cannot sustain global reserve status without the ‘hard power’ to back it up”, he stressed. And he added that: “For investors, a currency that can be defended is a currency that can be fully trusted”.
“Moderate” increase in the euro’s international role in 2025, ECB says. In an analysis published on Tuesday, the European Central Bank (ECB) notes that the euro’s share across a broad range of indicators of its international use reached around 20% in 2025, continuing a gradual but steady upward trend observed since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“In 2025, issuance of international debt in euro reached its highest level since the introduction of the single currency, rising by around 30% compared with 2024. The euro also became the leading currency in the green and sustainable international bond market for the first time. Foreign portfolio inflows to the euro area were close to historical highs”, the Frankfurt institution said in a statement.
However, signs of fragility are also emerging, according to the ECB: “Central banks have continued to increase gold holdings amid persistent geopolitical tensions, while some countries have advanced alternative cross-border payment systems, including those based on digital technologies”.
For the euro to become “a truly leading international currency”, the monetary institution recommended that the euro area develop deeper and more liquid capital markets.
To see the ECB analysis: https://aeur.eu/f/m5b (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)