STRASBOURG, Sept 12 — European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will call for the EU to promote the euro as a global currency to challenge the US dollar as he presents his annual programme to the European Parliament today, a senior EU official said.
Among his concerns are the pricing of most EU energy imports in US dollars even though only a tiny proportion come from the United States. With “political will,” the official said, Juncker believed that more euro pricing was possible.
While Norway prices its substantial supplies to the EU in euros, the official said, other countries use US dollars. Among the most important of these are Gulf states and Russia.
With the United States under President Donald Trump seeming to pull back from international engagements, the European Union could find it a favourable moment to spread the euro, the official said ahead of Juncker's State of the Union speech. — Reuters
