Brussels, 03/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - Before returning to Vienna to celebrate the launching of the EURO with Chancellor Schüssel and European Commissioner for Agriculture, Franz Fischler, Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission made the following declaration in a press conference in Brussels on 31 December. The Commissioner for Economic and Monetary affairs, Pedro Solbes, was at his side. "This is a special day for me and a great day for Europe. We say goodbye to part of our history, farewell to twelve great national currencies. The Euro was a dream only a few years ago. Now we have made it a reality. Tomorrow is the beginning of a new chapter of European history. The Euro is a symbol of European unity and an instrument of economic stability and growth. We still have a lot of work to do to make our economy more competitive and create new jobs for our people. I have no doubt that we will achieve this too. The Euro is your money, my money, our money. And a little piece of Europe in our hands."
In reply to a number of questions, Romano Prodi pointed out that the Euro would make for greater co-ordination of economic policies between Member States. He also stated that the search for more common parameters would not occur in a day but by way of a process that would begin in the days to come, beginning with an exchange of information on budgetary policies in an effort to refine the rules. The Commissioner explained that the Euro represented around two thirds of what the dollar zone economy accounted for and likened the currency to a robust "baby". Whilst admitting that the European currency had been born in a period not of boom, in an economy that was far from "roaring", Mr Prodi explained that perspectives were more encouraging in Europe than in the USA. In answer to a question on the depreciation of the Euro against the dollar, Mr Prodi hammered home the fact that the objective had never been to compete with the dollar but rather to fight against inflation and introduce budgetary discipline. He declared that the Euro had already had a spectacularly stabilising affect. "What might have happened without the Euro", Mr Prodi asked, following the Asian crises, the events of 11 September and Argentina.
Mr Prodi was sympathetic to the idea of having "universal Europeans" like Plato and Beethoven on future Euro notes instead of the current architectural structures but pointed out that Europeans must first get accustomed to the new notes and that changing them so soon would not be possible. (The history of European currencies demonstrates that this would be possible, over the years, with a new series and new characters, particularly in France and Italy: Editor's note).
Asked about President of the ECB, Wim Duisenberg's period of office, Mr Prodi explained that Mr Duisenberg had previously stated that he would leave before the end of his eight year mandate, but was unable to say exactly when and had not indicated if this was going to be half way through his mandate, a third or two thirds of the way through it.
Pedro Solbes was questioned about the future of Eurogroup at the same press conference but replied that, "now is not the moment" to envisage an operation more structured than the Group of Ministers for the Economy and Finance, given the positive and negative aspects of the equation.
According to Mr Solbes, in two weeks time practically all operations will be done in Euro
In a press conference on 2 January, Commissioner Solbes declared that he had been "extremely satisfied with the "warm" welcome the Euro had received by the majority of Europeans. He added that doubts certain people had had about the Euro had been proved unfounded in reality. On 1 January, more than 80% of cash dispensers, around 160,000 machines, had converted to the Euro and the number of withdrawals was more than double the average. Mr Solbes indicated that it would be necessary to wait until next Saturday to assess the effect of the Euro on European consumption more thoroughly (and that Saturday shopping accounted for as much as that of the whole week). Mr Solbes was also asked whether the experience of the first day would mean maintaining the 4-8 week transition period while the national and Euro currencies cohabit. Commissioner Solbes pointed out that (whilst admitting that there had been some exchange problems in Spain) nothing needed to change and that in two weeks time practically all operations would be done in Euro.
In a question of whether the Euro would change the economic climate and subsequently, the demands of the Stability and Growth Pact, Mr Solbes repeated that the Stability Pact was untouchable and had to be interpreted according to its content. He indicated that this content demanded that any action must take into account the economic situation - periods of growth and periods of recession, before applying any possible use of economic stabilisers. Mr Solbes emphasised that this would not constitute any change to the Pact but rather its adaptation to the circumstances in question.