Brussels, 02/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, 1 January 2007, Slovenia became the thirteenth EU Member State to adopt single currency. Two million Slovenians have thus joined the 314.6 million European citizens who have used the euro as legal tender for the past five years. “This is an important day for Slovenia”, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia said. In a press release, he congratulated the Slovenian authorities for the smooth changeover and delivered a message of caution to the population. “As the Slovenian people starts paying and receiving change in euros, I wish to remind them to be careful in the next few days and weeks and also to watch out for the prices”, Almunia said. Slovenia's Prime Minister, Janez Jansa, was of the view that Slovenia has taken a great step forward to consolidate its place in the family of the most developed European nations.
Last July, EU finance ministers had decided to repeal the provisional derogation granted to Slovenia upon EU membership. Noting that the country fulfilled the convergence criteria defined by the Maastricht Treaty, the Council had set the fixed and irrevocable exchange rate between the euro and the Slovenian currency at 239.64 tolars for one euro (EUROPE 9230). The first operations in euros during the night of Sunday to Monday this week took place smoothly. Euro notes were available in many automatic cash distributors and the Bank of Slovenia, as well as 52 other commercial banks, had decided to open their counters. Mitja Gaspari, Governor of the Central Bank of Slovenia, said on Monday that “the changeover to the euro runs in a normal way” and that they did “not expect any troubles to happen over the next few days”. The tolar will disappear on 15 January 2007 after the dual-circulation period. A ceremony will be held in Ljubljana to mark the occasion, bringing together Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, which currently holds the rotating EU Council Presidency, as well as President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and the president of the Eurogroup, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. The double pricing which has been in place since March 2006 will remain until June 2007, and many have expressed concern about the impact that changeover to the euro will have on prices. Andrej Bajuk, Finance Minister, pointed out that one has to 'make the difference between inflation as it is perceived and inflation as it is measured”. He went on to say that “citizens have the right to choose what they wish to consume or buy and the prices that they are prepared to pay”. He suggested that the level of public information is adequate.
In a press release, the European Central Bank (ECB) welcomed this enlargement on Monday. Now that Slovenia has adopted the euro, the Banka Slovenije is a full member of the Eurosystem. Pursuant to Article 49 of the statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the ECB, the Bank of Slovenia has released the remainder of its contribution to the capital of the ECB and has also transferred its contribution to the ECB's exchange reserve assets. The list of monetary and financial institutions set up in Slovenia and liable to compulsory reserves, as well as that of the assets located in Slovenia and admitted as a guarantee for Eurosystem credit operations, are published on the ECB website at the following address: http://www.ecb.int/stats/money/mfi/general/html/index.en.html . One can also see the national side of the Slovenian euro coins on the Commission's website: http://www.ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/our_currency_en.htm . (ab)