Recent movements in the euro currency are not welcome, European Central Bank President Mr Jean-Claude Trichet said today.
Asked during the question and answer period at a conference on European Economic Integration whether he was concerned about the euro's strength and the economy, Mr Trichet said his position was well known. "You know how clear my position is.
I said that position a number of weeks ago. I repeated that position recently. Friday afternoon, I said very clearly that the recent moves are unwelcome -- as simple as that," Mr Trichet said.
The ECB president said in Rio de Janeiro last Friday that euro-dollar moves were unwelcome. He added that he wished to underline the commitment made by US Treasury Secretary Mr John Snow to a strong dollar.
The euro slipped on Mr Trichet's comment to trade at 1.3245 from 1.3273, off its new record reached on Friday of $1.3329. The dollar has been dropping sharply against the euro on concerns about financing the huge US current account deficit.
Some analysts and policymakers are worried that a strong euro will harm the euro-zone's unimpressive economic recovery. In his speech before the conference on south eastern Europe, Mr Trichet focused on economic progress that countries need to make in order to link up with the European Union and eventually adopt its single currency.
His speech contained no reference to current economic conditions in the euro zone or ECB monetary policy. Trichet advised the south-eastern European nations that the same criteria would be used to judge their fitness for euro adoption as are being applied to existing EU members, and that unilateral adoption of the euro could not be used to circumvent those convergence rules.