EMU: EURO PROVES A SUCCESS IN FIRST WEEK AFTER INTRODUCTION.

Saturday January 5 was considered to be an important day for the new European currency. Indeed, the volume of business in virtually all participating countries was higher than on all the other days of the week put together. Yet at the end of this day, it appears that queues in shops all in all remained normal, including in large stores. This success is notably due to the detailed preparations made by shopkeepers, to the fact that people in most participating countries switched back to electronic payments, and to the very rapid dissemination of the Euro, which has helped to simplify matters considerably at tills.The effects of the very large withdrawals from cash dispensers and the equally large amounts exchanged in banks are being felt. Virtually everyone in the Euro-zone now has Euro notes and coins in their pockets. Most consumers have used up their national currency and are now systematically using Euro. Over 50% of payments are made in Euro in all participating countries, and the proportion is above average in six countries: the Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Finland and Greece.There has been an improvement in the distribution of Euro notes and coins among all those involved. Increasing use of the Euro by consumers is helping to ease the difficulties facing shopkeepers in giving change in Euro: to a large extent, this can now be done by recycling the notes and coins already spent by customers.But with a view to facilitating transactions in the days ahead, the Commission urges consumers to pay for their purchases using Euro notes of a value as close as possible to the price payable. It also calls upon banks to keep...