Conversion - the final stages

- by Alma Williams - our voice in Europe

You can find out all sorts of interesting and useful facts from the EU Commission's regular productions of Eurobarometer which survey: a range of European attitude: and perceptions. Did you know, for instance, that 75% of the British public wished they knew more about the EU, and that 42% of them lacked trust in the European Parliament?

At the moment - that is, in early October, hot off the press are Eurobarometer's findings about the improvement in attitudes to the introduction of the euro on January 1st 2002 in the 12 "eurozone" Member States. Fortunately, January 1st falls on a Tuesday, which gives a welcome post-Christmas time lag to banks and shops before distribution of new notes and coins to consumers. Two methods here:

• active personal exchange of existing currency of "reasonable" amounts from banks or
• passive receipt of change in euros for each New Year purchase.

Demands for advance circulation (or 'front loading'), even as late as December 2001, enabling consumers to become familiar in advance with the new currency are not being met. Cardboard cut-outs of coinage are not the same thing at all. Apparently currency distributed to commerce and banks legally remains the property of the Central Bank until C-Day, and there is fear of fraud if advanced distribution is widespread. Strong protests are nevertheless being made for 'front loading' for consumers.

This conversion from national currencies to the euro is the most momentous consumer issue in participating Member States for a generation, involving irrevocable changes. As a British consumer organisation we stand as observers on the sidelines, noting and monitoring -and recollecting. NFCG (as it then was) made its mark in our own decimalisation process which, along with the change over from Sterling to the Irish Punt, is the only recent example available for analysis. Even then the comparison is not exact because in neither case was there a question of losing the largest unit i.e. the pound. NfCG's role was to monitor for the press a typical basketful of groceries for six weeks before and six weeks after changeover to see if prices rose. They didn't, though shortly afterwards the oil crisis caused a price hike retrospectively, frequently blamed on decimalisation. 

The European consumer organisations will soon have a similar role, though they have already been involved in the consultation process of conversion to the euro both by their own governments and by the EU Commission. More specifically, the Greeks are planning to help staff with their "Observatories" - centres for help, advice and the sorting out of complaints - while the Finns are involved in organising training programmes. Moreover, a number of organisations have been involved in the Commission's Euro Facile project ("the euro made easy"), a series of local and regional information/education programmes for those described in French as 'fragiles'- with special needs, impaired sight, and the disadvantages of old age. Gone is the taint of patronage which NfCG pointed out long ago in our own Government's decimalisation film, "Granny gets the point".

Take the example of Renee Ponette who at 88 is one of 5000 "animateurs" in a peer group exercise in Belgium where members evaluate and contribute to their own resource materials. "Even at my age, I still want to be useful" she says. There is a large collection of materials inspired by such groups operating in the Member States and published by the Commission.

So, in addition to the very real possibility of fraud, what are the main problems coming to light in this crucial run-up period to conversion? There are two sources of consumer information: first, the ongoing study groups held by the European ESC to monitor progress; second, the Commission's working party on the practical applications of the euro, consisting of national consumer representatives.

They show that:

• Fear of cheating, and rounding prices upwards, are already fuelled by public authority price increases in some Member States (e.g. SNCF in France, toll roads in Italy, health insurance cards in Finland, energy prices in Austria) which could be interpreted as being caused by the introduction of the euro.
• Eurobarometer shows an increase in concern, with over 50% of the EU population now being worried.
• There is a general vagueness about the period of dual circulation which varies in the different Member States, and final dates of national currency.
• Though Eurobarometer shows a general improvement in the standard of knowledge about the euro (and a general liking for the clarity and simplicity of notes and coins), dual pricing still registers most for national currencies even when the euro is displayed first.
• Practical conversion differences in some Member States can cause problems because of the nature of the currency. Compare the ease of :

• • 1 euro = 2 DM in Germany or
  • 1 euro = 6 Finnmark, with
  • 1 euro = 0.78 Irish punt or
  • 1 euro = 166 pesetas in Spain.

• We ourselves would experience some difficulty in quick calculation with the euro currently around £0.62. Fortunately, 78% of the EU population now knows the value of the euro in their own country.
• There is difficulty in establishing a new scale of values. In the UK most of us have a repertoire effortlessly achieved of around 75 familiar items which helps us to make price comparisons. This knowledge will disappear and new scales will only slowly evolve. Some of the EU's consumer organisations are encouraging the philosophy of "thinking euro" rather than doing complicated mental arithmetic or fiddling around with calculators as part of this establishment of new reference points.
• Shopping will be more time-consuming and require more effort in the initial stages, and payment time at the till will be slower - discovered by the Audencia School of Management in Nantes in a simulated supermarket survey arranged by the EU Commission.

What will be our role as British consumers. To observe whether such anxieties are well-founded, to learn from the whole process of implementation and, above all, to wish our fellow organisations well in what is the greatest consumer enterprise they will ever have been involved in.

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