I know that Euro is the second most traded currency but it doesn’t have the #1 spot because of the US Dollar (which is printed on top of piling debt by the way) since oil is priced in USD per barrel instead of quoting it in EUR per barrel (since the US has monopoly on oil).
Money printers for the USD are running constantly, going “BRRR” and have a high national debt. They’re putting themselves further into that hole whilst printing more cash. What about the Euro? Is it even printed that often 24/7 or controlled to print a capped amount?
The only way to really Euro become superior is to incentivize it on a international scale (more than the US Dollar) on getting countries to accept & trust it more (but USD accounts for 60% of global commerce) so the Euro has A LOT of catching up to do on that.
Does the EU really have power or control over OPEC (Oil)? If they can grasp monopoly over the Gulf states by convincing them to price every barrel in Euros: would that strengthen the currency? The British Pound is the former global reserve currency before the US Dollar.
If European travelers stopped converting EUR to USD, only using EUR for international travel towards currency exchanges: would that increase the demand for it since US Dollar is literally the default for A LOT of countries (even “third world” ones) in terms of payment.
Arbitrary numbers regarding forex aren’t an indicator: so what if 1€ is worth more than $1? It’s more on PPP and trust, so with a stronger Euro traveling abroad (including the Americas): does that make it cheap for you to visit as you’re able to buy more than they can?
In addition to what others have said the EU doesn’t have fiscal authority (it can’t tax and spend) and relatedly can’t issue “Eurobonds”. Both of those are likely terminal blockers for a would-be reserve currency
The Euro has a few problems that keep it from being a reserve currency. A big one is that it’s not a centralized currency, since each EU member has their own fiscal policy. This creates a lot of risk with limited upside.
Europe also doesn’t make enough stuff at the international level to need to get lots of Euros. Europe also doesn’t seem culturally interested in being a global reserve and is more content being regional.
In addition to what others have said, you have to run very large, very persistent trade deficits for your currency to become a reserve currency (in addition to obviously needing to be a highly stable currency). Of the only currency issuers that could potentially fill reserve currency role (US, EU, China), only the US is interested in persistent trade deficits in order to pump the globe full of their currency.
To oversimplify, the EU is vassalized by the US Empire and is dependent on it. The US floods the world in dollars and uses this to “tax” the world as a debtor country. The global south isn’t interested in trading dollars for euros. If anything, the yuan may become a new reserve currency in the coming years as Iran is accepting oil through the strait of Hormuz in yuan.
It takes a very long time for something like that to switch. The US took more than a century to integrate themselves into whole world. Every McDonald’s or KFC is an extension of that control and thus the USD as the default reserve currency. All that has to close down first. That is going to take a long time even with the Stupidest President throwing US soft power down the toilet.
agree with @agentTeiko@piefed.social and also we are likely to end up with a period of multiple competing reserve currencies before a single dominant one emerges (which itself is not guaranteed in the near future)
