awareness and to prepare them for the cash changeover at the beginning of 2002, the governing council agreed to organise a series of conferences on euro changeover issues in the course of 2001. these conferences will bring together the key parties involved in the euro cash changeover process, both at the national and at the european level, with a view to focusing on the cash changeover preparations. this action should also be seen against the background of the conclusions of the european council meeting in nice on 7 to 9 december 2000. third, the governing council decided that tests on the euro banknotes will be carried out in all euro area countries in 2001. these tests will offer companies an opportunity to check and fine - tune their cash and / or vending machines and sensors with regard to their being able to recognise and accept euro banknotes. they will be organised by the euro area national central banks ; the bank of england will also be invited to participate. the ecb will monitor the test scenario in order to ensure a consistent approach and will act as the contact point for companies registered in a country without a test centre. fourth, further to the ecb ’ s press release of 3 august 2000, when the decisions of the governing council regarding the euro area financial modalities for the 2002 cash changeover were announced, the governing council agreed on general principles for the so - called frontloading and sub - frontloading of euro banknotes outside the euro area as from 1 december 2001. today ’ s decision, which complements the principles agreed with regard to the frontloading and subfrontloading of euro banknotes inside the euro area, has to be seen as a contribution to ensuring a smooth cash changeover in 2002. you will find further information relating to this decision in a separate press release to be issued this afternoon. with regard to target, the governing council decided to establish a long - term calendar of target operating days to be applied from 2002 onwards. the establishment of such a common long - term calendar was deemed necessary in order to reduce uncertainties for financial markets. in addition to saturdays and sundays, target as a whole, including both domestic and cross - border transactions, will be closed for a total of six days in the calendar year. you will find further information relating to this decision in a separate press release to be issued this afternoon. the governing council also adopted several legal acts related to the field of accounting, which will be published shortly in the official journal of the european communities. these acts relate to the legal

framework for accounting and reporting within the escb, the annual accounts of the ecb and the allocation of monetary income of the euro area national central banks and losses of the ecb for the financial years 1999 to 2001. let me also draw your attention to some of the decisions taken by the governing council at its previous two meetings. first, the ecb budget for 2001 has been approved. it includes a staff increase of 7 %. by the end of 2001, the ecb will therefore have approximately 1, 100 staff members. second, in connection with the bank of greece ’ s entry into the eurosystem, the governing council adopted several legal instruments on the transfer of foreign reserves from the bank of greece to the ecb, the crediting to the bank of greece of a corresponding claim on the ecb and the contribution to the capital, reserves and provisions of the ecb by the bank of greece. these legal acts will be published in the official journal of the european communities shortly. amendments to several other legal instruments were also adopted. third, i should like to mention that, following the very positive reaction to last year ’ s " helsinki seminar ", the ecb is organising a second seminar with high - ranking officials from the central banks of the eu accession countries. this seminar will be held tomorrow in vienna, in co - operation with the oesterreichische nationalbank, and will focus in particular on issues related to the price dynamics in accession countries, the role of the central banks in managing the accession process and the co - operation between the eurosystem and the accession countries ’ central banks. the " vienna seminar " will be followed by a press conference at 4 p. m. tomorrow. finally, i should like to inform you that the governing council has decided that its next meeting, which is scheduled for 4 january 2001, will be held by means of a teleconference. the press conference originally planned for that day has thus been cancelled. the next press conference will take place on 1 february 2001.