European politicians and businessmen Wednesday expressed concern about the strength of the single European currency

European politicians and businessmen Wednesday expressed concern about the strength of the single European currency The euro has reached the 'pain threshold for European companies' and the continent's politicians should press the U.S., Japan and China to reevaluate their currencies at the upcoming meeting of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations, a leading pan-European business lobby said.'Having crossed 1.40 against the U.S. dollar and appreciating against the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen, the euro exchange rate has attained a pain threshold for European companies,' BusinessEurope President Ernest-Antoine Seilliere said in a letter dated Oct. 2 to Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of the Eurogroup.

The next G7 meeting in Washington Oct. 20-21 'will be a unique opportunity to raise these issues forcefully and proclaim that the euro cannot be the variable of adjustment to reduce the U.S. external deficit,' Seilliere added.

The business lobby decried what it called 'political interference' in the European Central Bank's monetary policy. But it said it expects the bank 'to remain pragmatic as regards its interest rate policy.' The risk of 'further appreciation of the euro should naturally rank high on the ECB's list of concerns,' the letter continued.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi took a similar line in comments to foreign journalists during a presentation of the government's 2008 budget plans. 'Yes, I'm worried,' he said in response to a question about the currency's strength. He said he had discussed the strength of the euro with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 'But I'm not going to give the European Central Bank advice,' Prodi said, in response to a question on whether the ECB focuses excessively on inflation policy at the expense of currency issues. 'I know the ECB must have its autonomy,' Prodi said.

New calls to discuss the currency show that heads of state and finance ministers, many of whom have said they can live with the strong euro, might be growing nervous. As the euro climbs, euro-zone products become relatively more expensive in foreign markets, prompting fears that exports could collapse.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has in recent months been a strident, though mostly solitary, voice calling for the ECB to cut interest rates to help ease the euro exchange rate.