Traders primed for euros

Euro notes could soon be a familiar sight in Wales

Several stores and businesses in Wales have said they will accept the new European single currency which began replacing the national currencies of 12 countries on New Year's Day.

Marks and Spencer, Dixons and Virgin have pledged to accept euro notes at their city centre stores in Cardiff.

Rugby fans can buy a post-match pint in Pontypridd with euros

And visitors to Wales using the Severn Bridges near Newport, south Wales, can also pay the toll with euro notes.

The Merlin pub in Pontypridd, south Wales, is one of a number of small businesses who have pledged to accept euro notes in the hope of boosting trade.

Located opposite Pontypridd rugby club, it hopes to attract visiting Irish and continental rugby fans as well as foreign students from the nearby University of Glamorgan.

The Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, has trained its staff to accept euro notes.

Severn Bridge tolls can be paid in euros

But another major attraction, the Dan-yr-Ogof show caves near Swansea, south Wales, will not take payment in euros.

Owner Ashford Price said he believed Britain should be proud of its currency and should have a referendum before joining the rest of Europe in adopting the euro.

But political opinion in Wales remains divided over whether Britain should drop the pound.

Europe Minister Peter Hain hailed the single currency as a force for peace and prosperity.

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, he said: "If you look at Europe's history, 50 or 60 years ago we were all killing each other.

Peter Hain says the euro could benefit Wales

"To have everybody not only within a single political union, a single market ....but also now within a single currency... is an important step forward for peace, for stability, for prosperity and for everybody's security."

Mr Hain, MP for Neath, south Wales, said that when the time came to make a decision, the Labour government would think very carefully before putting the issue to a referendum.

"We've seen a big boost for jobs and prosperity as a result of being in the single market ... a single currency is a logical next step forward.

"I don't think we can rule out joining for ever."

Jonathan Evans says one policy can't fit all

Jonathan Evans, a Welsh MEP who leads the UK Conservatives in the European Parliament, dismissed the idea that all regions could prosper under the single currency.

"What are we going to have - hundreds of different interest rates?" he asked.

"It's an impossibility to deliver a policy that is quite right for Wales and quite right thereafter for every other region."

Jill Evans MEP, Plaid Cymru leader in the European Parliament, said her party was pro-euro and believed Britain should join when the time was right.

Jill Evans wants checks and balances

But she called for careful monitoring of the economic consequences across all regions of the member states adopting the currency.

"It's the impact on the Welsh economy and on Welsh jobs and on Welsh businesses that's more important for us," she said.

"What we will see a test of in future is how different regional economies fare under the euro.

"That's why we want to see a much stronger regional policy and we want to see checks and balances brought into the whole system that aren't there at the moment."