BREAKING NEWS

Merkel says there is a problem with the value of the euro

MUNICH - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that there was a "problem" with the value of the euro because the European Central Bank was tailoring its policies to weaker members of the euro zone and not strictly to Germany.
"We have at the moment in the euro zone of course a problem with the value of the euro," Merkel told the Munich Security Conference in an unusual foray into currency policy.
"The ECB has a monetary policy that is not geared to Germany, rather it is tailored (to countries) from Portugal to Slovenia or Slovakia. If we still had the (German) D-Mark it would surely have a different value than the euro does at the moment. But this is an independent monetary policy over which I have no influence as German chancellor."
The remarks, made as US Vice President Mike Pence watched on in the audience, came after a trade adviser to US President Donald Trump accused Germany of profiting from a "grossly undervalued" euro.