Further comments by European Commission president Juncker

  • It is strange that EU pays energy bills in USD when only 2% comes from the US
  • Ridiculous that EU airlines buy planes in USD
  • "We must change that"
  • First thing to promote euro as world currency is to complete EMU
  • Global role of the euro needs to be strengthened

Without a solid and deep economic and monetary union, it's hard for the euro to compete on a global standard with the dollar. But he has a point really. The issue here is also having to change the mindset of markets and companies in general. The dollar is perceived as the world's reserve currency and if the euro wants to get anywhere near that status it's going to take years, if not decades of work.