European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso today said a strong euro had its advantages and that euro zone interest rates were low.
"It is thanks to the strong euro . . . that we have energy prices today which are still bearable," he said.
He added that this was also the reason that "inflation remains at controlled levels and that we have interest rates which are historically very low".
Mr Barroso noted that although some said the euro was strong, "historically one can consider that it is not that overvalued".
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His comments came a day after the European Central Bank raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 3.5 per cent.