willem f duisenberg : the euro. our money speech delivered by dr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, at the euro 2002 information campaign hosted by suomen pankki ( bank of finland ) in helsinki on 17 september 2001. * * * ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me here today. before i proceed with my speech, i would like to express my sincere condolences and those of the governing council of the european central bank to all those whose lives were touched by last week ’ s terrorist attacks in the united states of america. the attacks were so horrific – and tragic – that we are talking about the world being a different place now. that may be so. but life – and that includes business life – has to, and will, go on. i would like to emphasise that the eurosystem stands ready to support the normal functioning of markets and relevant operational systems if the need arises. the governing council reaffirmed its support at its meeting last thursday. in this context, the eurosystem conducted liquidity - providing fine tuning operations last week. the ecb also agreed last week on a swap arrangement with the federal reserve system to facilitate the functioning of the financial markets and to provide liquidity in dollars. the eurosystem is co - ordinating its activity with the federal reserve of the united states and the world ’ s other major central banks. furthermore, as a mark of respect, the european union held a day of mourning last friday. and as a gesture of solidarity, we withdrew all tv commercials and print advertisements by the euro 2002 information campaign from the media on that day. let me now turn to the subject of this conference, the euro 2002 information campaign. the conference is being hosted by suomen pankki and it is one of the last ones in the campaign being conducted by the european central bank ( ecb ) and the twelve national central banks of the euro area. tomorrow, the banca d ’ italia, and in one month ’ s time, the bank of greece will conclude this series of conferences, which has brought together more than 5, 000 key actors in the euro cash changeover process. they have benefited from the exchange of views and information, for they have been able to enhance their own preparations for the cash changeover. moreover, the media attending these conferences have made the public more aware of the impending introduction of the euro banknotes and coins. my colleagues on the executive board and

##worthy. the new banknotes include state - of - the - art security features, which will make the euro one of the world ’ s safest currencies. these features will provide reassurance : they will enable both the public and professional cash handlers to check the banknotes quickly and easily. the needs of blind and partially sighted people have also been carefully considered : they will be able to identify the banknotes with confidence. the seven euro banknotes differ in size and colour, and the value of the banknote is printed in large, bold numbers. this will make it easier for all of us to recognise the banknotes when they enter into circulation on 1 january 2002. ladies and gentlemen, this will be a watershed in europe ’ s history ; it will be a unique event that requires our fullest support. it is crucial that we, the european central bank and the twelve national central banks of the euro area, do our utmost to ensure that euro banknotes and coins are well received by the public. a rapid acceptance will very much depend on how well we communicate about our money with “ our ” public. the more effectively we communicate, the more we will convince europeans that europe is not some abstract and remote idea, but an immediate and dynamic reality. the quality of the information we provide will determine how well the public copes with the cash changeover and gets used to denominations that may differ from national ones. that ’ s why the governing council of the ecb has launched an information campaign. we have the support of publicis, a communication agency which we selected for this historic task, and the national central banks of the euro area, which are implementing the information campaign and also supplementing it with their own euro - related communications at the national level. our campaign covers the practical aspects of the introduction of the euro banknotes and coins. moreover, it is aimed not only at people inside the euro area, but also at those outside it, such as tourists, travellers as well as the citizens of countries where the predecessor currencies to the euro are used widely as parallel currencies. in order to reach such a broad public, the information campaign uses various groups and institutions as partners or “ multipliers ”. they include banks, retailers, educational institutions, the tourism industry and the media. i would like to highlight the key role these partners have played and are still playing. here in finland and in the rest of europe partners in the euro 2002 information campaign from