BBC Brussels correspondent David Shukman

A few days ago I rang my bank, here in Brussels. There was a very minor problem to sort out and the manager, a friendly figure, dealt with it in less than a minute. Our conversation then turned to the future, the future of the money in my account - not the usual question of how much was there, but a new question of what it should be called.

Because in less than six months' time, the new European currency will be born, at least in electronic form and here on the Continent, the change looms large. Monetary union is one thing in theory, but it looks and feels very different when it is your own money at stake, in my case Belgian francs being transformed into euros.

From next January, the manager told me, for a three-year period you can choose whether you want your bank account to be shown in Belgian francs or in euros.

Or, he said, we will show both currencies on your statements. In fact, he joked, you will be able to see how much you have spent twice over, in the old currency and the new one, which comes into being fully in 2002. Of course, the manager added, our computers have been programmed already to handle this.

Indeed as E-day approaches, there seems to be a curious lack of drama of any kind. It is as if the merging of 11 of Europe's currencies is a purely administrative matter. In fact of course it is a monumental leap of faith, the biggest ever step towards closer European union, a venture with huge risks and countless unknowns.

I mentioned all this to the manager. They may only be digits on a computer print-out, I said, but we are talking about people's salaries and savings and loans. Surely there should be more tension in the air, more uncertainty. Well, he said hopefully, we have produced a special brochure; I will send you one.

So euro-land is getting ready. The newspapers have supplements explaining the euro. The television networks carry government advertisements showing how the change will be a benefit not a threat. Even airlines have started publicising the new money.

The political momentum involved is immense. Prime ministers, entire governments, have staked their futures on the euro. They all need it to succeed. And one way to do that, they believe, is through strength in numbers, to club together to do everything possible to make the euro work.

Which is why the gathering in Luxembourg on Thursday is so significant. For the first time, the 11 countries making up euro-land are getting together. This is a new force in Europe. Some even call the new euro-11 group a potential economic government for Europe.

The French in particular are keen to build up euro-11. They want to make sure the single currency turns out how they want it to and that means maximising any chance of political input to the running of the project. The French see euro-11 as a political body co-ordinating policy for the euro countries.

Decisions on the level of interest rates in euroland will be in the hands of the new and independent European bank. The Germans insisted on that, as a guarantee of credibility. But the French hope is that euro-11 will provide some oversight, some guidance even some measure of control. And over the years ahead they may eventually get their way.

It is that prospect that worries Britain, watching from the wings. The British government supports the euro in principle but believes the time is not right for us to join just yet.

In the meantime it does not want to be left out of important decisions such as those that may be taken by a new body such as euro-11. To avoid that fate, British ministers, even the prime minister, have argued long and hard and not always successfully.

First they wanted to stop euro-11 from meeting; then they wanted a permanent place on it themselves; then for the body to be as weak as possible; then for its first meeting not to take place while it was still Britain's turn at the presidency of the EU.

Humiliation has been only partly avoided, and the whole affair touches a very raw British nerve.

Thursday's event is not comfortable, especially for a government which claims for itself a leading role in Europe. The venue is Seningen Castle in the woods of Luxembourg. In a conference centre attached to the castle, there will be a short formal meeting which the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is allowed to attend. It lasts an hour or two.

And then comes the embarrassing moment, because the ministers move to the castle itself for dinner; a dinner only for countries in the euro zone. Mr Brown does not have an invitation and has to leave, alone.

British officials say none of this matters because any really important decisions will be made elsewhere. But others warn that euro-11 could acquire a growing importance, that it could become an inner club within the EU and that, as so often in the past, Britain will miss out.

For someone like my bank manager, this is all diplomatic nonsense - whether Britain is in or out or trying to do something in between. For him, the important thing is that the euro is coming and that most of Europe will use it.