WRITTEN QUESTION E-0753/04 by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Promotion of the international role of the euro in transactions between eurozone countries and third countries.
Date: 2004-03-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: accession to the European Union, euro, monetary relations, money market, public awareness campaign, single monetary policy

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/869

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(5 April 2004)

The Commission is aware that the image of the euro and the European Union in general in third countries
requires a long-haul
its information and
information and communication campaign. As part of
communication strategy ‘Framework for a Commission strategy for the euro and economic and monetary
union in 2004 and beyond,’ the Commission is planning from 2004 onwards, to improve perception of
the euro and its economic, political and financial implications in those countries.

In 2003 the Commission took part in the organisation of an international seminar in Santiago de Chile
(‘The European experience of the euro: Building an economic and monetary union, a joint assessment by
European and Latin American macroeconomists’, 20/21 October 2003) as well as consciousness-raising
conferences in Athens (‘Europe, the Mediterranean and the euro’, 3/4 February 2003) and in Warsaw
(‘From accession to adopting the euro’, 21 November 2003).

Via its information and communication strategy from 2004 onwards, the Commission is planning in
particular to organise in third countries seminars and conferences as part of
the euro campaign.
Professionals and academics will be among those targeted by the strategy, which will help enhance the
image of the euro and the European Union in third countries.

External information activities scheduled for 2004 include: monitoring of the media in important financial
centres (United States, Japan and South-East Asia); information seminars for press and information officers
In this
in the delegations; and organisation of activities in cooperation with the Union delegations.
connection, a cycle of five conferences is to take place in the United States at the Institute for International
Economics (Washington), Harvard University, the University of California (Berkeley), the University for
Chicago and the University of Texas (Austin).
In South Africa two conferences will be held in
Johannesburg and Cape Town. External information activities are also planned for Brazil.

(2004/C 84 E/0962)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0753/04

by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 March 2004)

Subject: Promotion of the international role of the euro in transactions between eurozone countries and

third countries

The Commission has always shown little interest in promoting the use of the euro in major transactions
with third countries, particularly those relating to the supply of raw materials.

Despite the limited role which the Commission could play in this connection, there can be no doubt that
an increased use of the euro in transactions of this kind would reduce the cost of products in Europe and
at the same time increase the competitiveness of products and the European economy.

Has the time not come for the Commission to abandon its neutral position, which has been frequently
misunderstood by third countries, as these sometimes interpret the Commission’s attitude as a certain
denial of the European currency, or at least as a lack of interest by the Commission in the European
currency which, in addition to being a means of exchange between the 12 EU Member States, is also an
international exchange and reserve currency?

C 84 E/870

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

As part of the implementation of its budgetary commitments, does the Commission have any specific
plans for campaigns to promote the euro in the new accession countries in order to encourage use of the
euro in transactions between these countries and the eurozone countries, given that this would reduce the
cost of such transactions, in particular with the networks of chambers of commerce and industry?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(6 April 2004)

The international use of the euro has gradually increased since its introduction.
In 2003, the euro
represented 31 % of international bond issues, 23 % of foreign exchange settlements and 19 % of official
foreign exchange reserves. The euro also plays a significant role in trade in non-euro area countries that
have strong ties with the euro area. Finally, it serves as an anchor currency in exchange rate regimes of a
number of countries, mainly in Europe, northern Africa and the French African Community (CFA) Franc
Zone.

The fact that the bulk of international commodity trade is denominated in US Dollars (USD) does not
automatically imply that denomination of these imports in euro would reduce their price or price
variability. For crude oil, for example, in the past three decades, exchange rate movements have sometimes
played to the advantage of European importers and sometimes to their disadvantage.

The best contribution policy can make (cid:1) and is indeed making (cid:1) in order for markets to increasingly
adopt the euro at the international scale is to improve the euro’s usefulness in the three functions of means
of payment, unit of account and store of value. The European Central Bank’s (ECB) stability-oriented
monetary framework and efforts to improve financial market (infra-) structure and to harmonize financial
market regulations thus strengthen the euro’s international perspectives. Furthermore, progress on the
external representation front would also no doubt increase the international status of the euro. Finally, the
provision of information to key actors plays an important role.

As regards the 10 acceding Member States, their adhesion to the EU implies their future adoption of the
euro when they meet the convergence criteria. For these countries, the euro is already the dominant
invoicing currency in their trade. Its use in exports of the ten Acceding Countries for which data is
available ranges from 22 % (Cyprus) to 87 % (Slovenia).

Since 2003,
the Commission has organised information and communication activities, such as the
conference that took place in Warsaw on the subject ‘From accession to adopting the euro’, in which the
Parliament participated. Among the structural activities achieved in 2003, there is the preparation of a
‘Framework for a Communication Strategy for the euro and Economic and Monetary Union in 2004 and
beyond’ to be implemented in 2004. New Member States are privileged beneficiaries of the activities
planned in this strategy. The Commission plans to introduce partnership agreements with these States,
which will allow them to progressively integrate experiences with a view to the use of the euro. In addition,
information seminars will be organised with Information and Communication Officers from Central Banks
and Ministries of Finance of these States. Other groups, including the media, as well as organisations such
as chambers of commerce and industry of those countries, are the targeted groups of the Commission’s
plans to promote and encourage the use of the euro in the new Member States.

(2004/C 84 E/0963)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0754/04

by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 March 2004)

Subject: Establishment of a European legal framework for hedge funds

How does the Commission plan to follow up the report by Mr Purvis (A5-0476/2003) on hedge funds,
and in particular the possibility of establishing a European legal framework to regulate them?