WRITTEN QUESTION E-1195/02 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Consequences of introduction of the euro: increase in consumption and in individual bank accounts showing a deficit.
Date: 2002-04-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU statistics, European Union membership, Netherlands, consumer protection, economic statistics, euro, household consumption, impact study, inflation, participating country (euro area), third stage of EMU

C 309 E/96

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

12.12.2002

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(13 June 2002)

It is quite normal for a proportion of notes and coins not to be returned when there is a
1. and 2.
change of currency (some have been lost, kept by tourists abroad or kept by the public as ‘souvenirs’). In
the Commission’s view it is too early to tell whether there is anything unusual about the volume of notes
and coins returned, since the public can still take them to the bank for several months more in most
participating Member States and will be able to return them to the Central Bank and/or Treasury for years,
if not indefinitely.

3.
By 3 May 2002 almost 93 % of national bank notes (in terms of value) had been returned to the
Central Banks and counted. The return rate varied on that date from 86.9 % (Luxembourg) to 95.8 %
(Greece). Because of delays in counting the coins, there are no recent reliable figures available for them.

4. and 5.
The failure to return a proportion of the former national notes and coins can be attributed to
the reasons given at 1 above and in no case reflects a lack of trust in the new currency; on the contrary,
the public rushed in large numbers to obtain it in the first few hours of 1 January 2002.

6.
There is no need for compensation, as the public will continue to be able to exchange without
charge any old national coins and notes they may still have for a very long time, if not indefinitely, with
the appropriate authorities.

(2002/C 309 E/111)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1195/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(26 April 2002)

Subject: Consequences of

introduction of the euro:

increase in consumption and in individual bank

accounts showing a deficit

Is the Commission aware that, since the introduction of

1.
the euro, many consumers in the
Netherlands have been spending substantially more money, thereby running the risk of exceeding their
income and seeing their bank accounts go into the red, and that this is due not only to the intervening
price rises but also to the fact that the higher value of the euro makes prices appear lower than in the
recent past?

2.
Is this phenomenon reflected to the same extent in consumer behaviour in all of the twelve countries
in the euro zone, or are there noticeable differences, particularly, for instance, between the group of
countries where the old currency was worth less than ten euro cents or even less than one euro cent
(Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy), the group of countries where the euro is
worth between two and seven times the value of the old currency (France, Finland, the Netherlands and
Germany) and the Republic of Ireland, where the old unit of currency had a significantly higher value than
today’s euro?

3. What steps have been taken to date to advise consumers concerning the new threat of overspending
faced by them? Are these measures being prepared and implemented only at Member State level, or have
the Commission or the European Central Bank also prepared such measures?

4. What additional measures does the Commission believe need to be taken during the remaining
months of 2002 in order to ensure that people have a realistic picture of their purchasing power following
the introduction of the euro?

5.
Is the Commission holding discussions on this matter with Member States whose governments are
considering introducing the euro in future and, where appropriate, with applicant countries undertaking to
do the same? What lessons are being drawn from the problems that have occurred in connection with the
introduction of the euro in the twelve countries?

12.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 309 E/97

Reply given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(19 June 2002)

The Commission does not yet have statistics illustrating a hypothetical increase in high
1., 2., 3. and 4.
indebtedness resulting from the introduction of the euro as legal tender. However, it would point out that
the near-universal practice of dual pricing during the first few months of 2002 was designed to reduce the
risk of faulty estimation of price levels by vulnerable households. In its recommendation of 11 October
2000 (1), it called for increased use of dual pricing in euros as of the beginning of the third quarter of
2001, so as to enable consumers to accustom themselves gradually to the new prices.

Moreover, the figures published by Eurostat on trends in the harmonised consumer price index in the
Member States which have changed over to the euro (cid:1) a vital indicator which enables consumers to chart
changes in their purchasing power (cid:1) do not support the hypothesis of a widespread price hike resulting
from the introduction of the euro as legal tender; the ‘euro effect’
is estimated at between 0 and
0,16 percentage points (quarter on quarter).

5. Measures to inform consumers in future Member States planning to introduce the euro will be
discussed with the countries concerned once a political decision has been taken to adopt it.

(1) Commission Recommendation of 11 October 2000 on measures to facilitate the preparation of economic operators

for the changeover to the euro, OJ C 303, 24.10.2000.

(2002/C 309 E/112)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1204/02

by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Council

(26 April 2002)

Subject: ACP debt relief

Would the Council clarify whether the proposal to ‘settle’ all outstanding special
developed ACP country after the full
completion point)?

loans to each least
implementation of HIPC means full cancellation of stock (after

In the light of the limited cost of such a proposal, and the specific nature of these loans, does the Council
agree that anything other than full cancellation of stock would in fact be considered as a lack of political
will to tackle the debt problem of low income countries?

Reply

(30 September 2002)

1.
As concerns special loans to the least developed ACP countries, attention is drawn to the Decision
No 2/2001 of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers of 20 December 2001 on settling all ACP HIPC LDCs’ (1) (2)
‘special
loans’ remaining after full application of HIPC debt alleviation mechanisms. Article 1 of this
decision states that ‘after completion point, the Community will settle all special loans to least developed
ACP countries qualified within the HIPC Initiative which will remain after full implementation of existing
enhanced HIPC mechanisms.’ According to Article 2, the necessary estimated EUR 55-60 million will be
financed through resources of the 8th EDF or previous funds, or from the 9th EDF. The 8th ‘whereas’ and
Article 3 set out in particular that, in case the settlement of all ACP LDCs HIPCs special loans should
exceed this amount, ‘the appropriate steps should be taken to provide for appropriate funding from EDF
resources’. The text of this decision appears in OJ L 56, 27.2.2002, p. 19.