04/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister declared on Thursday at a press conference on the single currency, before embarking on a visit to Bangladesh, India and Pakistan that, "Of course the Euro is now a reality, so I think that the idea that we can run away from it or hide our head in the sand and pretend it isn't there would be very foolish". He also added that the rest of Europe were in the single market and the single currency and that the UK had "to prepare for it but the final decision is with the British people" (in a referendum). He stated that it was important to recognise that 12 EU Member States were now using the Euro "in their daily lives" but that economic convergence had to be right "to make the single currency work for Britain".