Paris, 18/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The euro definitively replaced the French franc on 18 February. On Sunday evening, France's Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Lionel Jospin and Laurent Fabius, held a brief ceremony to celebrate the departure of the franc.
In a press release, the Entente souverainiste, however, states that, on "this day of sorrow for all those who are attached to the sovereignty of France", it "does not consider the franc has gone for ever", and calls on "all patriotic Frenchmen and women" to demonstrate, on 14 March in Paris, their "refusal of a European Constitution". The euro has a "political aim: that of preparing France's integration into a supranational entity", states the organisation, which goes on to add: "What is more, a Convention chaired by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing is charged with preparing a European Constitution for 2003, which sounds the knell for our national independence". It "will reproduce the German model and be of a federal kind", they say.