The most important thing that will happen after the creation of EMU on 1 January 1999 is that the exchange rates of the currencies of the participating countries will be linked and no longer allowed to change. The value of the guilder will then be fixed in relation to the German mark and French franc, for example, just as the Dutch quarter is a fixed proportion of a guilder. From 1 January 1999, the ECB, together with the presidents of the national central banks, will formulate and implement monetary policy at European level. After that date, the countries participating in EMU will issue new government loans in euros. Even though many decisions still have to be taken and it is still uncertain which countries will be allowed to join EMU on 1 January 1999, the Netherlands cannot afford to sit back and do nothing, otherwise it will be too late to start thinking about all the changes that need to be made and how we should go about it.
Preparations are therefore already in progress.
The Cabinet has set up a forum in which central and local government, the financial world, the business community and consumer organisations are represented. This 'National Forum for the Introduction of the Euro' was established in early 1996 and concerns itself with the exchange of information, identifying and solving problems, and coordinating information campaigns. The main reason for creating a single European currency is to liberate trade within Europe from the barriers and costs arising from having different currencies. Exchange rates are an uncertain factor in international trade as the value of a currency can fall or rise from one moment to the next. Newspapers publish exchange rates on a daily basis.