We support efforts to improve the design of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and these efforts will also, indirectly, foster a stronger international role for the euro. Second, a stronger global role for the euro may have tangible consequences for the conduct of monetary policy. In my remarks this morning, I would like to explain these two points in more detail.
Policies supporting the euro’s international role The decline of the euro’s international role is, on the face of it, puzzling. The euro area displays two of the fundamental elements that economists deem essential in fostering a currency’s international use. The first element is that it is the currency of a large economy that is comparable in economic size to that of the United States.