The head of the European Commission advanced to reduce the role of the dollar in the EU

The Chairman of the European Commission Jean-Claude Junker advocated reducing the role of the American dollar in European calculations. He stated this in his annual appeal to the European Parliament. Junker called the situation "absurd" in which Europe pays 80 percent of energy imports in dollars. According to him, this is equivalent to a sum of 300 billion euros.

He recalled that the main suppliers of energy are Russia and the Gulf countries, while the share of the United States in the total volume of energy resources purchased by Europeans is only 2 percent. For this reason, Junker announced, by the end of the year the European Commission will present initiatives to strengthen the international role of the euro. Such a step will strengthen the sovereignty of Europe, says the head of the European Commission.

He emphasized that Europe should strengthen its own military potential, regardless of the defense structures of NATO and the USA. Junker also stated that Europe should strengthen economic ties with Africa so as not to provoke streams of migrants that cause an increase in nationalist sentiments in European countries. In the same speech, the official called on the EU not to be silent in the face of the "inevitable impending humanitarian catastrophe" in the Syrian Idlib, where Russian and Syrian aviation are bombardments these days.

At the end of August, it became known about the intention of Germany and France to develop measures to protect against sanctions, which the United States is unilaterally against countries such as Iran. The Minister of Economics and Finance of France Bruno Le mayor said that Berlin and Paris would create "independent financial instruments." In turn, the German Foreign Minister Haiko Maas said that the European Union is working on the modernization of Swift systems to make payments more independent from America. The minister expressed the opinion that the US sanctions, which have accepted against China, Russia and Turkey, are harmful to European businesses.