18/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - Solbes: according to the European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Pedro Solbes, "Europeans are obsessed by the level of the euro, which is not the fundamental element of the single currency, except for public opinion. And Solbes went on to explain: "the level of the euro faced with the dollar is not the cornerstone to the euro system.. Whatever the Europeans or Americans do, we cannot have at the same time a strong dollar and a strong euro in their reciprocal relations". The fall in the euro faced with the dollar does not mean that the European currency has effectively lost its value, as some claim. Iraq: news from Belgrade states that the Iraqi Government, meeting under the chairmanship of President Hussein, has instructed that a committee be set up to study the possibility of replacing the dollar by the euro in commercial and banking transactions in the country. A government press-release urges Arab countries and others to move in the same direction. Sweden. Opposition to the euro has reached record heights: according to a poll of the DemoSkop institute, published on Sunday, 59% of those questioned are against their country joining the euro. You may recall that the Swedish authorities are considering launching a debate on signing up to the euro only after the semester of the Swedish presidency of the EU Council, next year (see EUROPE of 14 September, p.12, for what Anna Lindh, future Council President had to say in Strasbourg.