EU officials fail to persuade on RMB reform ahead of summit

European Union finance officials failed to persuade their Chinese counterparts to begin strengthening the value of the renminbi ahead of today’s EU-China summit in Nanjing, the Financial Times reported. "I can’t say I am more optimistic than I was before I came here," said Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg and chair of eurozone finance ministerial meetings, after discussions that included senior EU economic policy makers, Premier Wen Jiabao and People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan. European Commission president José Manuel Barroso said little had changed since the US president’s visit almost two weeks ago. "They are telling us exactly what they told President Obama – exactly the same." The renminbi is tightly linked to the US dollar, not the euro. As the dollar has declined against the euro, the renminbi has fallen with it, making Chinese goods cheaper in Europe and EU goods more expensive in China. Despite the officials’ comments, the EU-China summit is expected to focus less on currency issues than climate change.