Brussels, 27/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - Didier Reeynders, the President of the Eurogroup and Belgian Finance Minister, and Pedro Solbes, the Commissioner for Monetary Affairs, said they were concerned at the lack of preparation of small and medium-sized enterprises for the changeover to the euro, when speaking at a conference on the euro organised by Unioncamere, the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce, on Tuesday. Mr. Solbes declared that "many SMEs continue to doubt the changeover to the euro on 1 January 2002. And yet, from that date, the period of dual circulation will be limited to two months and banks will only distribute euros". He warned that "companies not ready risk running into difficulties in carrying out their business".
For his part, Didier Reynders considered that "although administrations and large companies seem ready for the changeover to the single currency, individuals and SMEs are the two categories the least prepared, as they are still waiting to be confronted by the reality. They must grow closer to the event". Regarding the period of dual circulation, he said he was convinced that it was possible to achieve the technical change within the first two weeks of January 2002. Carlo Sangali, Unioncamere President, said that at ten months from the deadline, 79% of SMEs of the euro zone had still not converted their bank accounts into euros, hardly 12% invoice in euros and 11% are capable of undertaking all their operations in euros.
According to the Flash Eurobarometer No. 91 (January) one SME in four considered themselves already prepared for the euro. The survey demonstrates a slight improvement in the level of preparation of businesses, but observes that many of them still have a confused vision of the timetable and believe that the ultimate date for operating in euros is not 1 January 2002, but a later date (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.17).
Effects of cross-over to euro: drop in inflation, lower taxes
On the fringe of the conference on Tuesday, Solbes declared that the introduction of the euro would lead to "greater price transparency" and could lead to a "downward pressure" on inflation. And Mr. Reynders said that, in Belgium, the conversion of the national currency into euros would lead to a fall in taxes of in the order of 1 billion Belgian francs.