Frankfurt / Brussels, 04/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - On 3 January, the European Central Bank published a press release in which it notes that, the same day, it had "started business as usual", following "intensive and successful testing on 1 January and the problem of free exchange of TARGET test messages between the National Central Banks and the ECB. All systems are functioning correctly", the press release states. Among the National Central Banks, the National Bank of Belgium also notes, in a press release the resumption of business "without incident", and that internal and external tests "were conducted successfully and completed sooner than expected". In addition, the special provisions taken to be able to meet an exceptional request for banknotes were not used.
As for the European Commission, its monitoring centre put in place to monitor passage from the year 1999 to 2000 from a computer point of view detected no significant anomaly. A press release simply states that the measures taken in the different Member States had allowed for the move to pass without incident. Throughout the Union, the provision of essential services - electricity, telecommunications, water, gas - continued as usual from a computer point of view (problems in certain Member States having a totally different origin: shocking weather, storms, ecological problems).
The Commission's "monitoring centre" reported a glitch-free rollover
According to a summary of the latest information, the Commission Y2K Monitoring Centre noted that the impact of the computer problem was largely neutralised by an intensive and serious preparation of the critical systems, especially in infrastructure. Nevertheless, the centre underlines that "a cumulative effect may appear in the weeks or months to come, as a large number of small glitches build". The European Union's monitoring systems co-ordinators remain vigilant. The Commission's centre has already been able to reduce its activity, but it will continue until there is a return to normal economic activity. The key personnel will insure there is a telephone call centre until the end of the week.
According to Per Haugaard, Commissioner Liikaen's spokesperson, this is an excellent example of international co-operation. In relation to the information received by the centre, the stock markets in France, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and the Arab states, as well as the specialised markets in Chicago, that were open on Monday indicated that all their computer systems where working normally.
Though the footnote urges the reader to interpret these result with caution as the report is base on information from around the world, which is not always verifiable. The Commission underlines that it has neither adopted or approved the report and that it refuses all responsibility for the information from external sources which it examines. More information on the Commission's Y2K activity can be accessed on the Y2K web-site at: http: //http://www.ispo.cec.be/y2keuro/year2000.htm