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The European Union wants to boost its position in the global economic stage by strengthening the international role of the euro as it seeks to erode the dominance of the U.S. dollar and to insulate the bloc from financial risks, including American sanctions.
In a blueprint presented early this week, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, outlined how the region can fortify its economic and financial resilience by bolstering the single currency’s architecture and through growing markets like green finance.
Calls to boost the bloc’s autonomy gained steam after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran that would also punish European banks, companies and people who do business with the Islamic republic. The commission’s plan reflects increasing pressure by member states for the EU to adopt tools that will allow it to pursue its foreign-policy goals with less recourse to an unpredictable U.S. ally.
The U.S.’s ability to enforce international sanctions because of the dollar’s power “has seriously affected the EU’s and its member states’ ability to advance foreign policy objectives,” the commission said in its strategy paper. Policy made in Washington has, at times, “compromised legitimate trade and investment of EU businesses.”
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