WRITTEN QUESTION E-3968/97 by Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (12 December 1997)

Subject: The year 2000 problem

The London Times of Sunday 23 November reports that a team of specialist consultants submitted a report to President Clinton, according to which the simultaneous introduction of the euro and the reprogramming of computers required for the transition to the date 2000 ('the year 2000 problem') poses insurmountable problems for Europe, both of a technical and economic nature.

According to this report, the American experts go as far as to 'suggest' that Europe should postpone the establishment of the single currency for at least five years.

As this is a particularly important matter and as Europe cannot depend on the advice of third parties on matters pertaining strictly to itself, will the Commission say:

1. whether it considers the analyses of the American experts to be serious, or whether they might constitute deliberate or non-deliberate misinformation, and

2. what its assessment is of the magnitude of this nonetheless real problem and whether studies on this subject have been carried out and what their conclusions are?

Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission (16 February 1998)

The Commission is aware of the study submitted to President Clinton which inter alia recommends the postponement of European monetary union (EMU) for five years given the perceived shortage of trained personnel capable of managing the changeover of information technology (IT) systems. While questioning some of the conclusions of the report, the Commission acknowledges that the author is one of the most respected American experts of software cost estimation and the report itself is a welcome and useful contribution to the debate on the IT consequences of EMU.

For some time, the Commission has been examining the implications of year 2000 and the introduction of the euro on IT. In particular, it organised a round table on 2 October 1997 dedicated solely to the IT challenge represented by the introduction of the euro. This round table clearly showed that from a computer systems viewpoint, the two issues have important differences in terms of problem definition. Experts observe that the year 2000 is an IT issue with business impact, whereas the euro is primarily a business issue with IT impact. This suggests that using the same methods to estimate the costs of the two projects, as the report does, may not be the most appropriate approach. However both issues must be addressed over broadly the same timescale and each, in its own right, represents a huge resource challenge (human and financial). Taken together they present a challenge of unprecedented scale for those with responsibilities for software driven systems.

The Commission is holding extensive consultations with IT users and suppliers and co-funds a series of surveys about the state of preparedness of the European industry for EMU and for the year 2000. Consultations confirm that both challenges are serious and that it is not necessary to try and tackle them in one stroke. Moreover, the state of preparedness does not appear satisfactory for either of the issues. In spite of rapidly increasing awareness and commitment, implementation is still lagging. It is imperative that industry accelerates preparations for the euro if the necessary IT modifications are to be completed on time. However, consultations also confirm that the scheduled deadlines can be met for the euro and that it will generate a quick return on investment, whereas the year 2000 is just a source of costs.

A World-Wide Web site addressing both issues is available at http://www.ispo.cec.be/y2keuro. The Commission has issued several documents providing advice on euro IT related matters ((Practical aspects of the introduction of the euro, communication of the Commission, COM(97) 491, available at: http://europa.eu.int/euro/en/practi/practi.asp. Recommendation for the placement of the euro sign on computer keyboards and similar information processing equipment, available at: http://www.ispo.cec.be/y2keuro/docs.eukeyb.pdf. Preparing financial information systems for the euro, working document, XV/7038/97, available at: http://www.ispo.cec.be/y2keuro/docs/wdiseuro.pdf. )) and is in the process of preparing a communication on the year 2000 computer problem.