The euro will gradually become more important but will not overtake the US dollar's dominance in the global economy in the near future, European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member Mr Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa said.
He said a speech here on the development of the euro that the currency's growing profile would "happen only slowly and gradually."
He said the rise of the euro will possibly put it on par with the dollar.
Mr Padao-Schioppa said these changes are "not as a result of an active policy to expand the international role of the euro but more as a consequence as a by-product of the performance of the European economies and the euro itself as a strong and stable domestic currency".
He said European policymakers had no plans to create an international role for the euro.
"There were no, say, foreign policy ambitions or there was no mandate for an international role for the euro," he said.
PA
