Mr President, it seems that since the launch of the euro in January 1999, the European public, far from becoming more interested in it, has in fact been losing interest, as if the extremely long period of three years without notes and coins has turned the euro into a kind of virtual reality. Although we have repeatedly stated that the euro has, since January 1999, been the official currency of 11 EU Member States, which Greece and possibly Denmark will join at the start of next year, and that the national currencies are just multiples and fractions of the euro, the fact of the matter is that the majority of Europeans do not believe that escudos, pesetas, francs and marks are not still their official currency, because that is what they have in their pockets. While water, electricity, telephone and supermarket bills are also shown in euros, I regard that as a mathematical exercise of limited usefulness. Yet in 18 months’ time our national notes and coins will disappear and it is high time that we were totally familiar with the new money, developed a sense of its value and recognised its implications for our lives and for the development of our economies and societies. As I see it, information campaigns on the euro need to focus on precisely these two aspects: first, the value of the euro, its appearance and the way we use it as a currency, and, second, its potential and effectiveness in terms of monetary stability in the European Union, the level of growth achieved – the highest in recent decades – and in terms of controlling inflation and creating employment. If these campaigns are to deliver the desired results, however, it is vital for the various actions to be coordinated. It is no good having one campaign by the European Central Bank and another one by the Commission or by Parliament, not to mention all the other campaigns organised by the Members States involved. It is essential to effectively coordinate the resources available so as to reach the target groups, and for us to be certain that there are no errors of the kind already identified in documents which the Commission has widely distributed in Portuguese schools. Schools are nerve centres for information and have a multiplier effect, so they must be used in the most appropriate, simple and effective way possible. This means that the key words in these campaigns have to be coordination of effort, involvement, and human, technical and financial resources. Whereas it seems that up to now the right hand has not known what the left is doing, and vice versa, and it is important to get past this stage as soon as possible. 2001 should be the year in which the euro takes over the key role of national currencies in setting prices, in company accounting and in cross-border transactions. We need to call a halt to the scandalous cross-border costs within the euro area, which do not involve any risk for the banks. The practice of charging a percentage on credit card transactions and on bank debits and transfers is one of the causes of the poor light in which the European public views the euro, and only action by the Commission to outlaw the real cartels that have been created can put an end to this and help to restore confidence. And this is what the citizens of Europe are waiting for.

Political group: PSE