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Macron Says the Euro Is Not Yet an Alternative to U.S. Dollar

Chinese currency was a de facto alternative to the greenback in certain regions, says Macron

Macron Says the Euro Is Not Yet an Alternative to U.S. Dollar
Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, speaks during the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, U.S. (Photographer: Caitlin Ochs/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron said that the euro is not “a clear alternative” to the dollar thanks to the U.S. currency’s international “strengths.”

“Until now, we fail to make the euro as strong as the dollar,” Macron, speaking English, said in an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday. “We made a great job during the past years but it’s not yet sufficient.”

For the French president, European corporations and entities are too dependent upon the U.S. currency. “This is an issue of sovereignty for me. So that’s why I want us to work very closely with our financial institutions, at the European levels and with all the partners, in order to build a capacity to be less dependent from the dollar,” he said.

“It doesn’t mean to be opponents -- but I think for the stability of the global order, you’ll need a strong currency like (the) dollar, but you need some alternatives. Euro has to be one of these alternatives, which means we have to better enhance our financial structures and the financing of our players at the euro-zone level,” Macron said.

Macron said the Chinese currency was a de facto alternative to the greenback, “not at the global level but for a certain region.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Geraldine Amiel in Paris at gamiel@bloomberg.net;Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vidya Root at vroot@bloomberg.net, Gregory L. White, Alan Crawford

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