Brussels, 15/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - According to recent information from the European Parliament on Tuesday, more than nine payments out of ten are made in Euros and close to three quarters of vending machines have been converted to the single currency. "Less than two weeks after the launch of operations, national currencies have practically disappeared from circulation", a Commission press release was pleased to announce, adding that, the Euro had made a smooth entry into the economic circuits of the system.
On Saturday the average number of cash payments in Euros was around 92%. The five countries with the best results (where at least 95% of payments are in Euros) are Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland and Luxembourg. Six Member States (the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Austria and Luxembourg) have rapidly carried out the technical modifications necessary for converting their machines to the new notes and coins. Services working for Commissioner Solbes also indicated that: queues in shops are returning to normal, despite the beginning of sales in a number of countries; cash transport companies are now concentrating on collecting the old national currencies; activities at bank counters have returned to normal in most participating countries.
In response to the growing protest from consumers at the rounding up of prices on consumer goods, the President of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenberg, asserted on Monday night in Frankfurt, that the circulation of notes and coins in Euro had not had nor would have inflationary repercussions. He claimed that up until now there had been little evidence to show that the introduction of the Euro had had an impact on the general level of prices and that there was no evidence to suggest a significant average price rise in the future. He also added that the rounding up of prices could go in "two directions, upwards or downwards". The ECB remains optimistic on this front and continues to record an inflation rate of bellow the 2% threshold in the Euro-zone for 2002.