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Mix-Ansicht- "You shake your heads but it is so!" - JüKü, 03.09.2001, 09:26
"You shake your heads but it is so!"
Finance Minister Hans Eichel told disbelieving Germans visting his ministry on Sunday that the euro was stronger than the deutschmark in its relationship with other currencies. "You shake your heads but it is so," Eichel told the crowd, citing past fluctuations in the German currency against the dollar and the size of the euro zone economy, which he said made it more difficult to speculate against than the mark.
Opinion polls still show German's believe the euro, which fell steadily against the dollar after its launch in January 1999, will be weaker than marks they will have to trade in with the introduction of euro notes and coins in 2002.
Eichel spent an hour answering questions from hundreds of people who turned up to visit the ministry as part of a government"open door day".
Eichel assured them the single currency would not be undermined by other countries' budgetary policies or European Union enlargement."Policies in Europe are coordinated more than between German states," Eichel said.
He cited regular contacts between EU finance ministers, revealing he recently warned Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti against pursuing tax cuts that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi promised during his election campaign.
He expressed regret that German public finances were not as healthy as those of some other euro zone nations, again rejecting calls to boost the country's flagging economy.
"If we were, for example, to try and boost our economy through making new debts, or to bring forward the (planned) 2003 tax reductions to 2002, which would also create more debts, then we would violate the European stability pact," Eichel said.
"In the worst case, if our deficit went over three percent, we could be fined," Eichel said."That is not going to happen."
The finance ministry used hard sell tactics to draw people in, hiring a rock group to entertain them, including with a song about Eichel, and offering a chance to handle the new euro coins, which are not due to be distributed to the public until mid-December.
Some visitors asked Eichel to sign their deutschmark notes as souvenirs.
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