In recent days, the ETUC is relieved to note that a debate about the impact of a brutal appreciation of the euro on economic growth has started up.

However, the ETUC wants to remind all involved that the management of the euro exchange rate is not the sole responsibility of the European Central Bank. Indeed, the European Treaty gives the ECOFIN council the power to define general orientations for exchange rate policies. [1]

The ETUC calls upon the ECOFIN council meeting on 8 and 9 October to discuss this line of action, as well as putting the issue of the euro exchange rate to the G7 meeting at the end of October.

Says ETUC Deputy General Secretary Reiner Hoffmann: “It is too easy for policy-makers to say that a too expensive euro should be no problem if workers moderate wages. This approach would perhaps save European exports but it will certainly kill domestic demand and abort the recovery. Instead, the Commission and the ECOFIN Council need to act to provide the ECB with a clear framework of exchange rate policies.”