EC: The euro as a global currency will enhance EU foreign policy

"The fact that almost every import of energy to the EU should be in dollars and that we are so dependent on the American financial system shows us how this restricts our actions in the sphere of foreign policy... In the long term, we must transform the euro into the real world currency so that we can import energy into the euro and sell, for example, our planes are also in euros, because this will give us much more opportunities to be active and effective in foreign policy," he said.

The European Commission by the end of this year plans to present a number of initiatives to strengthen the role of the single European euro currency in the world, Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission President, said earlier.

"By the end of the year, the European Commission will present initiatives to strengthen the international role of the single European currency," he said, delivering a message on the state of affairs in the European Union in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

According to Juncker, it is not wise that the European Union pays eighty percent of its bills for energy imports in dollars, although only about 2% of imports fall on the US. It's also ironic that European companies buy European airplanes in dollars, instead of doing it in euros, the head of the EC said. 

source: reuters.com