Mr President, the third phase of Economic and Monetary Union entered into effect on 1 January of this year, as detailed in the Madrid scenario. Also, in accordance with this scenario, the Council, backed by this House, has decided that euro coins and banknotes will be circulated as legal tender as from 1 January 2002. One of Madrid’s key contributions is that it drafted a clear schedule early on, which was preceded by extensive deliberation. My group supports the Commission in its viewpoint that the so-called transitional period should ideally be maintained, despite the fact that its lapsing coincides with the frantic Christmas shopping period. Preparations are now too far advanced to be able to successfully implement any changes. On 1 January 2002, the euro will become legal tender within the euro zone. National currency units will remain in circulation for a maximum of six months, but national legislators may decide to shorten this period within their territories. Many will not be fully aware of the advent of the euro and monetary union until they have to make the changeover in their own purses. Whether or not the general public will accept all the work involved in Economic and Monetary Union will be determined by the way in which the actual changeover around 2002 will pan out. All predictable and avoidable complications and hitches must therefore be ironed out beforehand. In my group, many fear the confusion, lack of security, feelings of uncertainty and waste of time brought on by dual currency circulation. The ‘big bang’ scenario remains attractive to us, but not all Member States share this opinion, hence our appeal to at least keep periods of dual currency circulation to a minimum. At any rate, a smooth transition accompanied by a short period of dual currency circulation or not, as the case may be, is impossible without frontloading. To our great relief, the European Central Bank has abandoned its previous stance against frontloading. Frontloading is a must in order to make the practical introduction of the euro a success. In the resolution, we recommend frontloading subject to cautious conditions. I would also like to comment on two other aspects. Firstly, we share the rapporteur’s vision that in the case of dual circulation, change in the retail trade should be given in euros. This will, in fact, help shorten the period of dual currency circulation within Member States. Secondly, we are convinced that dual price display is a good thing. Alongside euros, we definitely want to see pricing in national currency for a period after 2002. This is mainly beneficial to the consumer but the retail trade too realises that it stands to benefit from this. However, to talk about imposing statutory obligations concerning these two aspects now does not seem appropriate to us, certainly not at this early stage. You will have realised that, according to the PPE Group, Mrs Torres Marques has done a sterling job and we fully endorse her report. We will only suggest a few refinements when the amendments are discussed at the vote. We hope that the Member States and also the European institutions will continue to bear in mind that we are also to be consulted at future stages, so that the introduction of euro coins and banknotes in 2002 will be a huge success.

Political group: PPE-DE