Europe raises pressure on U.S. to halt dollar slide

By Huw Jones and Marcin Grajewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Worried euro zone policymakers pressured on Washington on Tuesday to do more to halt the dollar's decline, a day after the U.S. currency hit a record low against Europe's single currency.

Guy Quaden, Belgium's representative at the European Central Bank, said in an interview on Belgian radio: "Things are becoming exaggerated".

"It's up to the relevant authorities to assume their responsibilities and particularly for U.S. authorities, who repeat that they are in favor of a strong dollar but who should reaffirm their words," he said.

The Europeans are worried that the slide is getting out of hand after the dollar sank below $1.50 per euro last week.

Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders, attending a second day of meetings with European colleagues on Tuesday, put it less bluntly than Quaden but the basic message was the same, that Europe was counting on active U.S. help to tackle an issue which makes life harder for euro zone exporters in world markets.

"We are also happy to see the reaction in the U.S. They are also concerned about that. So it may be a first step to a good collaboration between Europe and the U.S. in this field," he told reporters.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon added his voice to the rising chorus of complaint, echoing similar declarations overnight at a Brussels meeting of the euro zone's finance ministers and ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet.

"There is a problem in the relationship between the dollar and the euro," he told French Europe 1 radio, saying exchange rate developments were partly to blame for the rising price of commodities, which from oil to wheat are soaring.