WRITTEN QUESTION E-2518/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 September 2001)

Subject: Money-wasting on advertising coins and banknotes whose use is compulsory from 2002

1. Will the Commission say why EUR 80 million has been spent on a campaign launched in Frankfurt am Main on 30 August by the Dutch agency Publicis advertising the use of a new means of payment called the euro with effect from 1 February 2002? Does this mean that, contrary to earlier reports, the inhabitants of the 12 Member States introducing the euro on that date are free to continue using other currencies as well, and that this campaign is aimed at persuading them to use the euro voluntarily?

2. Will it state where this EUR 80 million has come from and what other expenditure for the benefit of the inhabitants of the European Union has now had to be abandoned as a result?

3. Why are users of the new currency being invited to waste their time on playing with holograms, watermarks, security threads and metallic strips? Is the Commission anticipating more counterfeiting of banknotes than already takes place in the case of the 12 currencies that are to be withdrawn? Is it necessary, in order to combat counterfeiting, to create more work for consumers rather than taking direct action against counterfeiters?

4. Does the Commission know of other examples of advertising campaigns for things that are imposed by the authorities, such as prison sentences, taxes or military service?

5. Is the Commission prepared to help ensure that this campaign is confined to, or at least targeted at, those areas outside the European Union where the euro faces competition from other currencies, especially Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo, where the German mark performs an important function in the place of the local legal tender, and also in other countries with weak or non-convertible currencies, such as Ukraine, where foreigners now pay in German marks, US dollars or pounds sterling and where EU interests would possibly be well served if the Member State currencies used there were replaced by an EU currency?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(30 October 2001)

The Commission would draw the attention of the Honourable Member to the fact that the question concerns the information campaign of the European Central Bank (ECB). Accordingly, it is not a Commission initiative financed from the budget of the European Union. It is rather an ECB matter. The aim of this campaign like other national and Community information measures is not to persuade citizens to opt voluntarily for the use of the euro but to familiarise them as far as possible with the euro so that the transition will be as trouble-free as possible.

The Commission is aware that the euro will play an increasingly important role in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, especially as 10 of them are currently negotiating accession to the European Union. For that reason, the Commission has conducted various information campaigns targeted at these countries. A case in point was the conference in Budapest on 13 and 14 September 2001, attended by Ms Randzio-Plath, a Member of the European Parliament.