PARIS (Reuters) - The centre-right candidate to head the European Commission said on Wednesday he would not hesitate to propose foreign exchange policy guidelines binding on the European Central Bank if the euro were to become too strong.
Former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the centre-right European People's Party campaign in this month's European Parliament elections, told reporters he could not disagree with those, notably in France, who contend that the 17-nation single currency is too strong.
"If I were president of the Commission and if the strong euro were to become too strong, I would not fail to propose general guidelines on the exchange rate to finance ministers of the euro zone for their consideration," he told the Euro-American Press Association in Paris.
"Is the euro exchange rate strong? Yes," he said. "I would not say that those who say the euro is too strong are wrong... I would draw your attention to the simple fact that the same exchange rate applies to all sub-economies of the euro zone."
(Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Hugh Lawson)