Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-02-Speech-4-088"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.19991202.6.4-088"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, the report by the European Parliament on the length of the transitional period for the introduction of the euro is an opportunity for us to recall some disturbing truths.
Firstly, although there has been a great campaign to promote the euro, particularly at the time when it was launched, although it is now legally in force and it has even experienced some nerve-racking misfortunes on the international markets, people seem to have completely forgotten that it exists. They continue, in great numbers, to use the national currencies to which they are accustomed and they only use euros very rarely. What is worse, it seems that they are becoming less prepared to use them in the future.
The opinion polls, at least in France, show that the percentage of people who envisage opening an account in euros in the near future has been falling regularly since 1 January 1999 and today only constitutes a small minority. That really is the last straw, because the closer we get to 31 December 2001, the more this percentage should, on the contrary, be increasing.
Everything seems to show that our fellow citizens do not see any point at all in actually changing to the euro in their daily lives. However, the European Parliament wishes to disabuse them of this and once again recommends an information campaign which, according to the resolution, should cover both the practical aspects and the basic significance of monetary union. Well, there we are: once again, reminding those people who think that it serves no purpose how useful the euro actually is.
For my part I am going to ask a controversial question: what if, by chance, our fellow citizens were right? And what if they really had got to the bottom of it? And what if the entering of the euro into daily life really did serve no purpose? Well, the transitional period of three years would have at least had the merit of showing us that we can very easily live, on the one hand, with a euro that is living its own rather chaotic life on the international markets and, on the other hand, with national currencies still in circulation, to the great satisfaction of consumers.
Let us have the good sense to remain in this situation, Mr President, and let us have confidence in the modern means of payment like charge cards or the electronic wallet to make life easier for travellers and those living near borders."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples