EMU: ALMUNIA AND KALLAS IN APPEAL TO RAISE EURO'S INTERNATIONAL PROFILE.

The Estonian shadow Commissioner nevertheless regards the appointment of a stable President of the Eurogroup (the informal Council of Euro-zone Finance Ministers) to a two-year period as "a step in the right direction".

For his part, Mr Almunia believes the Euro is a strong currency because it has contributed to maintaining domestic purchasing power in the zone. Looking at results since the launch of the single currency, the Commissioner recalled that inflation was still above 4% at the beginning of the 1990s. In 1998, the rate fell as low as 1.8%. Inflation has since accelerated to 3% in May 2001. This inflation peak has since fallen back to about 2% since...