EU leaders protest euro high

EU leaders have hit out at Europe's failure to stabilise the euro after the single currency hit an all-time high against the dollar on Wednesday.

From the summit of Europe's big three in Berlin French president Jacques Chirac called for "greater stability in the markets for sustained growth".

And he urged Europe to be "more aggressive when dealing with international economic matters."

German economic minister Wolfgang Clement said the greatest risk to the economic turnaround in Europe is "the euro dollar exchange rate, which must be reasonable and sustainable."

Both men were doubtless referring to the latest refusal by the European Central Bank to say whether it will intervene to halt the euro's seemingly endless rise.

"I never comment on intervention", said ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet on Monday. "When we have something to say, we say it".

His words followed US Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony that there will be no rise in American interest rates in the immediate future.

Both factors have contributed to the latest exchange rate moves.

The euro hit .2929 on Wednesday, although it closed in the US at .2724 amid speculation of a massive Bank of Japan intervention to boost the dollar against the yen.

But analyst consensus expect the euro to break the .30 threshold within the coming weeks.

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