Brussels, 09/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - As we had announced (see EUROPE of 24 and 25 September, p.8), the European Commission adopted on Tuesday a report to be forwarded to the European Council of Gent. It takes stock of the degree of preparedness of economic operators for the changeover to euro notes and coins. The Commission identified 40 good practices that it suggests to governments, banks and retailers in Member States "with a view to making up lost ground and achieving a smooth changeover". (We shall come back to this in EUROPE/Documents).
The Commission stresses that, on the whole, significant progress has been made since its report was presented in April this year, but that the degree of preparation varies "considerably" depending on the different economic operators. Thus, the report states that: - national administrations have nearly completed their preparations although local authorities do not appear to be as far advanced; - Preparations by SMEs "are also moving rather slowly", with significant numbers not sufficiently aware of deadlines or costs", mainly in France, Spain and Italy; - Most banks, except those in Ireland, consider that the early changeover of accounts is useful; - Information for private individuals has considerably improved, but remains "generally insufficient", mainly in Austria and the Netherlands; - The use of the euro is making slight progress, mainly for operations with public administrations, but businesses are not taking easily to the European currency which, moreover, remains very little used by the public.
Speaking before the press, Commissioner Pedro Solbes insisted on intensifying the effort needed to encourage SMEs to take part in the early supply of euros (distribution through the banks to retailers of part of the notes and coins received), mainly thanks to the setting in place of more favourable debit rules. The report reveals that, on average, banks provide for a pre-supply of euros for 48% of their trader clients, but that the differences in forecasts are "spectacular", including within one and the same country. The report notes that it is not unusual to find one bank planning to pre-supply 10% of its trader clients while a rival bank plans on 90%. It specifies that Austria (75%), and France (71%) are both States where the average estimates are the highest, as opposed to Spanish and Finnish banks (15% and 12% respectively) while estimates for German and Irish banks are below 50%, 32% and 48% respectively. Examination of the state of implementation of the agreement of 19 February between the Commission and the three European federations (providing for traders able to provide guarantees to the bank against notes and coins received not to be debited in value before 1 January 2002) reveals that some banks go beyond this commitment: 47% of banks grant deferred debiting on 2 January without asking for guarantees and 8% postpone debit beyond 1 January 2002. According to data available, only the Belgian and French banks will debit in value on 2 January. Mr Solbes recalled that, in order to reduce the risk of price rises to a maximum ("low, if not zero", although complaints regarding this had been filed in several countries), the Commission is calling on the national administrations and on traders to respect the following commitments to: - allow citizens to compare prices by imposing double price labelling before and after 1 January 2002; - round prices downwards (as was the case in Belgium for taxation); - respect price "neutrality" during changeover to the euro; - and publish frequent price change indices. Among the possible weaknesses, the report essentially cites the storage and the transport of coins and the shortage of small-denomination notes.
Mr Solbes felt that special attention should be paid to shops in order to make them aware of the practical and logistical problems (cash desks, change, queues, handling of notes and coins, etc.). He called for an increased information effort for the public (mainly those who do not have easy access to information). He also called for "generalisation" of early changeover policies (bank accounts, non-cash means of payment, prices, salaries, etc.) in order to help people to become familiar with a new scale of values. In his view, the quantities of euro notes and coins already produced (EUR 11 billion and EUR 46.8 billion respectively) cover the overall requirements for the initial launch. Simulations show that, from 5 January, "the majority of the population will have received euro banknotes from banks".