The European Systemic Risk Board published an introductory statement by Thorsten Beck, Vice-Chair of its Advisory Scientific Committee, to the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on why the euro has not become a leading global reserve currency and what would be needed to expand its international use. The statement notes that composite indices put the euro’s international role at below 20% and argues that the post-Global Financial Crisis decline reflects structural gaps versus the US, including shallower capital markets and the absence of a unified European “safe asset” comparable to US Treasuries. It highlights that only German Bunds are viewed as truly safe and sufficiently liquid, with around EUR 2 trillion outstanding versus around USD 30 trillion of US Treasuries, alongside EU institutional fragmentation and a more limited geopolitical role. Against a backdrop of geopolitical shifts and concerns that US domestic and institutional trends could erode trust in the US Dollar, Beck links a stronger euro to Europe’s “strategic autonomy” and the Savings and Investments Union, and recommends creating a unified safe asset, deepening capital markets, preserving central bank and supervisory independence while maintaining consistent crypto-asset standards, advancing European retail and wholesale payment initiatives (including a Digital Euro, Appia and Pontes, and private solutions such as Wero), expanding non-US central bank liquidity swap line networks, and strengthening international cooperation including interlinking fast payment systems.
European Systemic Risk Board 2026-04-14
European Systemic Risk Board advisory committee vice-chair calls for a unified European safe asset and deeper markets to strengthen the euro’s global role
The European Systemic Risk Board published an introductory statement by Thorsten Beck to the European Parliament on why the euro has not become a leading global reserve currency and what is needed to expand its international use. Beck cites structural gaps versus the US—shallower capital markets, the absence of a unified European safe asset comparable to US Treasuries, institutional fragmentation, and a more limited geopolitical role—and recommends creating a unified safe asset, deepening capital markets, preserving central bank and supervisory independence, advancing European payment initiatives including a Digital Euro, and expanding non-US central bank liquidity swap lines and international cooperation.