The EU must do more to push the euro as a world currency, Juncker said, questioning why Europe pays 80 percent of its energy bills in dollars when only 2% of its energy imports come from the United States. "The European Commission is today proposing to strengthen the European Border and Coast Guard to better protect our external borders with an additional 10,000 European border guards by 2020," Juncker said. "The migration question is an even bigger challenge for EU cohesion than the euro crisis," Merkel told lawmakers in Berlin. "Will Europe succeed in the face of those who want to destroy it and fragment it, those who want to withdraw in on themselves?" Juncker leaves office on October 31 next year after a term marked by crisis after crisis: a refugee influx, soaring debt and Brexit.

Source: Bangkok Post September 12, 2018 12:22 UTC