FRANCE: EU COMMON CURRENCY MEETING

(8 Apr 1995) Eng/French/Nat

European Union finance ministers are meeting in Versailles today to discuss a common currency.

The plan has been dogged by controversy and the timetable for a single currency - the goal of full European Union - has been repeatedly delayed.

It was a grand setting for what some European countries describe as an over ambitious plan.

Monetary union and specifically a single currency are the subject of bitter dispute within the European Union.

Britain and Denmark are among those opposed to fixing an early date for a single currency, France Germany and the Benelux countries are keen to press ahead.

Today they were at the forefront in discussing the fundamentals - what a single European currency will look like, and what it will be called.

European Monetary Union won't happen overnight. Best estimates suggest it will take up to four years to print enough new notes and get them into circulation.

Before then European Union countries have to fix their exchange rates
SOUNDBITE:

(IN FRENCH)

There is always a risk there.
Happily in the last few days, we have seen that our currencies have been relatively stable. There's been a certain stability, which I'm happy about.

SUPER CAPTION: Jacques Santer, EU Commission President

SOUNDBITE:

The third stage is the stage where exchange rates are irrevocably fixed between the currencies of countries that are in the third stage.
And so, you can have a period where you are in the third stage but without notes and coins of EMU.
And so we have discussed this point and it's one of the technical and political problems of monetary union.

SUPER CAPTION: Edmond Alphandery, French Finance Minister

It's unclear how many member states will move to fix their currencies over the next five years. At the moment none is economically ready for union.

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