Sarkozy said he was not in favour of a weak euro but declared that the single currency should find the 'right' level and he repeated calls for an overhaul of the global monetary system. -- PHOTO: AP
PARIS - FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was not in favour of a weak euro but declared that the single currency should find the 'right' level and he repeated calls for an overhaul of the global monetary system.
In an interview with Le Figaro magazine released on Thursday, he said that a euro at US$1.36 (S$1.90) was still creating problems for euro zone companies trying to export.
He called for international coordination of interest rate strategies to create a new world monetary system. 'I am not in favour of a weak euro. But between expensive euro and a weak euro, I choose the euro at its right level,' he said in the interview. The euro was trading at US$1.3671 at 1550 GMT (2350 Singapore time).
France has led European complaints about the euro's strength against the US dollar in recent years. Mr Sarkozy has said repeatedly that firms within the euro zone have been handicapped by the currency's level even though it has weakened due to a fiscal crisis in euro zone member Greece.
Asked by Le Figaro whether he would like to see the euro falling further, Mr Sarkozy said: 'When you say that the euro is falling, let's be reasonable. Let's not forget that it was introduced at parity with the dollar in 2001.' 'How can we continue to produce in the euro zone and sell in the dollar zone if the dollar depreciates against the euro?' he said.
Mr Sarkozy has called for a reworking of the world monetary system, to get rid of currency imbalances, and said it would be a major subject of the French presidencies of the G8 and G20 groups of countries next year. -- THOMSON REUTERS
