Brussels, 27/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - Some 96 days ahead of the launch of euro notes and coins, the assessment made of the preparations in Member States for the launch day is generally positive, but vigilance must be kept up and efforts have to continue in the final countdown to 1 January 2002 and beyond. The conclusions of the public debate held on Thursday by Ministers at the Internal Market/Consumer Affairs Council bear witness to this. Charles Picqué, Belgian Economics Minister and acting President of the Council, summarised the conclusions, saying that all Member States were suitably prepared, but there were still some concerns, namely the fear held by citizens that prices being converted to euro would lead to a price rise, difficulties in adapting to new scales of monetary value, lack of sufficient preparation by SMEs for a deadline for which they themselves underestimate the changes that will be incurred.
Ministers were invited to answer the following questions: What concrete problems have you identified? What specific measures have you taken to avoid prices being rounded up when converted into euro and to help small companies and small traders to prepare for the changeover to the euro? What measures have you set up to deal with problems that may arise in the months following the introduction of the euro, particularly for protecting consumers against fraud?
The various surveys carried out in Member States seem to show that the euro will not have a great impact on prices. Some rounding up has been noted, but this has only been marginal and will not have an overall effect on prices. However, citizens remain worried and in order to reassure them, price changes have been monitored and some Member States have made a control body responsible for checking that prices are converted accurately where the price is listed in both the national currency and the euro. Most Member States have created observatories to monitor double pricing, which is considered as a very useful price transparency measure to create consumer confidence. Some Member States have provided themselves with binding instruments to repress abnormally high price rises. The European Commission's "eurolabel" initiative has been followed by various Member States to encourage operators to copy good practice. A string of information activities and awareness-raising campaigns have been carried out, targeted particularly at specific groups, such as the elderly, young people or the disabled. Out-of-court settlement procedures for settling disputes have been set up. Member States are concerned about the frontloading of notes and coins to meet trade and automatic teller machines requirements. Increasing the production of 1 and 2 cent coins will help avoid a lack of cash that may be used to justify rounding prices up. Member States feel that it is important to find new scales of value. Double price labelling is considered a useful pedagogic tool in this sense, so much so that three countries - Austria, Greece and Portugal - have made it compulsory and other countries are expected to follow suit.
Most Member States note that SMEs are still somewhat lagging behind in their preparations, compared to large companies. Member States have also developed practical guides, internet sites, staff training aid, and even adopted tax measures for SMEs in order to offset their costs and for converting their capital into euros. All Member States are aware of how useful accompanying measures will be after 1 January 2002. Many initiatives - both voluntary and compulsory - have already been taken. These include the widespread distribution of calculators, additional police security measures, campaigns for traders and banks to heighten awareness to the risk of counterfeiting, penal sanctions for forgery or money laundering, the introduction of prepaid cards, and instruments to fight against abusive and anti-competitive practices.
Commissioner David Byrne pointed out that the Commission is to present, in October, a report to the Parliament and Council on the state of progress in preparations. Welcoming the intensification of logistical efforts made by the Member States, he stressed that the correct information on the timetable for changeover to single currency and the confidence of all consumers in the new currency are the two main objectives. The Commission, he said would continue to coordinate the campaigns being carried out by national central banks. It is unrealistic to think that the introduction of notes and coins will be problem-free, but problems will be limited, he assured. Consumer representative organisations, such as BEUC, have looked at the question. Efforts made, he declared, could be undermined if consumers have the impression that they are being cheated by the professionals. On 2 April, retailers gave their pledge to the Commission that they would not cheat, and administrations have been encouraged to do the same in their public pricing policies.
During the debate, Germany expressed optimism, saying that consumer confidence is a central element of changeover to the euro, and that it is up to public authorities to strengthen such confidence. Speaking of the supply of euros, it pointed out that the difference between large and small companies lies in the lack of storage capacity in small companies which prefer to wait until the day before 1 January 2002 before they take in supplies of euros. Thirty-five million free kits will be distributed to German consumers from 17 December. Italy placed emphasis on the advantage of prepaid cards for vulnerable groups during the two months when the "two currencies" will exist side by side. This will prevente disputes over conversion. Finland noted that prices had been "rounded off" both upwards and downwards, and it states it is confident that the changeover will be a success as the surveillance and controls will continue until the end of the transitional period. Describing the transition to single currency as an "historic challenge", France stressed the need to distinguish between the technical difficulties, which can be easily overcome, and the psychological difficulties, a distinction that has led the French authorities to act on a dual front for consumer confidence (euroconfidence) and consumer security (eurovigilance). The French minister insisted on the role played by the decentralised bodies which make up the regional observatories (or the local observatories whose good functioning was welcomed by the Spanish minister) and on the importance of euro-bank money as an instrument for initiation to the euro. In his view, further effort must still be made for training in the trade sector and for preparing small companies. Portugal pointed out that, on 1 October, it would ensure respect of the double compulsory labelling and rules regarding rounding off prices. Vulnerable sections of the population (the elderly, persons far out in the country or ethnic minorities prey to linguistic difficulties) are a concern for the government. Sweden, which is not part of the euro-zone, nonetheless said it had to respond to a growing demand for information from consumers. Ireland, which spoke of codes of good practice signed by many professional organisations, said the best way to fight against price increases was to give the consumers the means to monitor prices and to use their right to complain in the case of abuse. Greece noted surveys that reveal widespread acceptance of the new currency and less national fears than the European average. The compulsory labelling that it practices since 1 January and the obligation made to the private and public sectors to round prices downwards, have no doubt worked well. Austria, which adopted 600 texts for adjustment, announced that dual labelling would be compulsory from 1 October, and welcomed the degree of preparation of its companies that "receive tailor-made information on the internet". Luxembourg points out that vigilance continued in its country where 63% of the population considers they are well-informed, where fears of cheating are weaker than in all the rest of the Union and the number of accounts converted into euros is the highest. Belgium insisted on the need to make a distinction between the marginal inflationary effects that can be attributed to changeover to single currency and those linked to other factors. It pointed out that, in Belgium, 600,000 electronic converters had been distributed to the elderly, 10,000 talking calculators to the blind and partially sighted, and that specific actions were planned for immigrant populations.