Brussels, 20/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a special programme of around an hour broadcast by EbS (Europe by Satellite, the EU's TV news agency), European Commissioners present in Brussels on 20 December explained to citizens (each in their own language) what the euro means to them.
President Romano Prodi said that in the recent period of serious international tension, the euro had made us calmer and stronger. He said he would be making his first purchase in euro at midnight on 31 December in Vienna, where he was planning to buy a bunch of flowers for his wife. The Spanish Commissioner for Economic and Social Affairs, Pedro Solbes, pointed out the huge change in the economic culture that the arrival of the single currency would wreak. Standing half-way between two Presidencies of the EU Council of Ministers, he said he would be using the euro in Brussels on 31 December and in Madrid on 1 January. Fellow Spaniard Loyola de Palacio, Vice-President of the Commission with responsibility for transport and energy, saw the euro as the penultimate stage in the building of Europe. Beyond its symbolic weight, she saw it as a period of enormous change in daily life. The Commissioner for the Internal Market and Taxation, Frits Bolkestein, stressed the concrete advantages of the single currency for both the Netherlands (his own country) and the rest of Europe, where prices would be directly comparable, making it obvious whether a bike or a car costs more in one country than another. The Irish Commissioner for Public Health and Consumer Affairs, David Byrne, said the euro was a tangible bridge between Ireland and the Continent, holding up a coin: "Hold this coin, feel the reality". Pascal Lamy, French Trade Commissioner, said the felt personal pride at having prepared for the changeover for the past two years together with Jacques Delors (Mr Lamy was Mr Delors' Head of Cabinet when the latter was President of the Commission). He said he would buy his bread in France with a euro coin with the head of the King of Belgium on 2 January, while on 3 January he would buy a newspaper in Brussels with a 50 centime coin with Marianne's pretty head on it. The Commissioner for Institutional Affairs and Regional Policy, Michel Barnier, said that in his country (France), the question of the euro had been decided by every citizen (at the time of the referendum over the Maastricht Treaty), thanking Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, François Mitterand, Helmut Schmit, Helmut Kohl and Jacques Delors and stressing that the euro was the symbol of a united but not uniform Europe (one side of the coin has a national symbol). Young people see the euro as a strong symbol of our common European future, noted the German Budget Commissioner, Michaele Schreyer. Holding up a coin, she said it was also an attractive currency that one likes holding in ones hand. She could understand the pain that some Germans felt at losing the DM but the DM's culture of stability lives on in the euro. Her compatriot Günter Verheugen, Enlargement Commissioner, also mentioned the reluctance of part of the German population to the introduction of the euro, even thought the project had been led by France and Germany, but said he could understand (Marks had been the currency he himself had carried around for years). The euro reflects a reality today, being a good, strong, stable currency that also told a story, the story of many long years of European integration, he added. For Austria, the euro also helped provide a feeling of belonging that meets a pressing need, explained the Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler. He said that the Austrian euro had a musical side to it because they have the picture of Mozart on them, and that they might even be nicknamed "Wolfos"). The Italian Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti, said the euro was a single currency because it was the same currency for twelve different countries but also because it was different from any other currency in history, and was the guarantor of a more serious relationship between the state and its citizens with the currency protecting citizens while in the past, states sometimes used the currency against citizens (inflation, public deficit, etc). He said the currency would protect European youngsters against the danger of "unpleasant surprises". Antonio Vitorino, Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, commented on how "perplexed" various Portuguese citizens felt about the euro and called on them to see the arrival of the euro as a return to schooldays and a return to childhood, with adults and children learning how to use the currency together. Viviane Reding, Luxembourg Education and Culture Commissioner, said in Luxemburgish that it was a Luxemburger, Pierre Werner, who had been one of the founding father of the single currency, with the report he published in the 1970s. The Greek Commissioner for Social Affairs, Anna Diamantopoulou, pointed to the successful entry of the Euro in his country after years of difficulty. The Greek Commissioner claimed that with the Euro they were better protected and better able to react in times of crisis and that the Euro coin also had a national side (in Greece, the national 2 Euro coin is represented by a strong European myth, the rising up of Europe editor's note). Philippe Busquin, Belgian Commissioner for Research (speaking in Dutch and French) pointed out that the Euro would be an "effective tool" for progressing towards a more social, competitive and innovating Europe. The Finnish Commissioner in charge of Enterprise and the Information Society, Erkki Liikanen, said that the Euro would reinforce the European "identity", stability and competitivity in Europe. He recognised that we should be both "patient and determined" in order to get used to the new currency.
Vice President of the Commission, Neil Kinnock outlined the three basic realities concerning the United kingdom and the Euro: the Euro would always be the currency of the EU and internal market; the United kingdom would always be in the EU and the internal market; the case for the United Kingdom joining the Euro are exactly the same for being in the EU and the internal market. He hammered home the fact that the United Kingdom lived in the Euro neighbourhood, which means that it will feel the consequences of t without the power of being able to influence it all. Mr Kinnock said that, "a prolonged absence from the Euro is not advisable for any practical grounds, economic or political, to exercise influence we have to be in). Margo Wallström, Swedish Commissioner for the Environment, had no choice but to accept that her country was not part of the Euro-zone, "a democratic decision that must be respected" but she did emphasise that the Euro was one of the strongest currencies in the world, a world in which the EU would have a larger role to play after enlargement. He claimed that as soon as citizens began using the Euro, its "reality" would be further confirmed.