Business urged to embrace euro

The euro is only 60 days hence warns Rhodri Morgan

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has urged Welsh businesses to be ready for the introduction of the Euro in only 60 days' time.

The new currency comes into circulation in 11 countries and as Wales sells more than 70% of its exports to the European Union - trade worth more than £4 billion - he says exporters, the tourist industry and even taxi drivers must face-up to the change.

A euro taskforce has been working with business for some time to prepare for the single currency and Mr Morgan has

Next year's visiting rugby fans will pay in euros

unveiled an information fact sheet produced by the Welsh Assembly to be sent to companies setting out how the introduction could affect them.

"Whether you are part of a blue chip company, a taxi driver or run a corner shop, you cannot ignore the euro, especially when it is turned into coins and notes on January 1st," Mr Morgan said.

"Britain may not have joined the European Monetary Union, but the euro still has the potential to affect all of us in one way or another whether we are businesses with trading links with the euro area or holidaymakers to Europe.

"When Irish truckers or German tourists stop for a meal on the A55 or the M4, when French or Italian rugby fans arrive in Cardiff for the Six Nations fixtures next spring, it will be euro coins and notes they will bring.

When French or Italian rugby fans arrive in Cardiff for the Six Nations, it will be euro coins and notes they will bring

Rhodri Morgan, First Minister

"It is important that Welsh companies are ready for the full Monty euro on January 1st, they need to understand how it will impact on their business and that they know how to take advantage of the trade opportunities it could offer them.

"With just 60 days to go, time is quickly running out and I hope this information campaign will help to ensure that Welsh companies are in the picture and fully informed."

Eleven countries in the euro area adopted the euro currency on January 1 1999 and Greece joined on 1 January 2001.

The twelve members - Belgium, Austria , France, Finland, Luxembourg, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain - will introduce euro cash on 1 January next year.

In the run-up to the introduction of the new currency the euro task force has been advising small and medium-sized businesses in Wales on how the euro could affect them.

Europe Minister Peter Hain, the MP for Neath, visited Cardiff last week at the start of a UK tour to meet business leaders and students to drive home the government's message that EU membership is good for Wales.

He denied his tour was aimed at softening up public opinion for a vote on the euro.

Single market

But with opposition to the single currency already showing itself, the referendum that the government has pledged to hold before it would take Britain in to the euro looks even more difficult to win.

In the summer, Mr Hain said: "I have always thought that the euro is a logical development of a single market and there is a need for it, in order to introduce price transparency and the harmonisation of costs."

But his public enthusiasm for entry into Europe was played down by the Foreign Office and the comments drew criticism from the Conservative Party.

The minister, though, said public opinion on the euro could be shifted with contact by UK tourists with actual coins and notes.