The Euro Zone to speak with one voice

In an interview with William Moray, Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, director of the France-based Centre for Futures Studies and International Information (CEPII), talks about fallout from the strong euro. "Petrol would cost much more with a weak euro insofar as we buy it in dollars. Conversely, the major drawback of the strong euro is that companies become less competitive on export markets. France has a particularly large balance of payments deficit, which explains our leaders' determination to push for a weaker euro. ... If the Euro Area countries managed to agree and speak and with one voice, they would have an impact on our partners. But I doubt whether that would be enough. I feel, for example, that it would particularly difficult to convince Tokyo to revalue the yen. Especially as it is not in Japan's interest to do so, with its inflation rate so low."

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