WRITTEN QUESTION E-1548/00

by Jaime Valdivielso de Cué (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(18 May 2000)

Subject: Internal market

The Commission announced on 5 April 2000 that legal proceedings were being opened against banks in four European Union countries Germany, France, Italy and Spain which are suspected of increasing commission on the exchange of banknotes within the euro zone after the euro's entry into force.

What steps will the Commission take to prevent such practices?

What mechanisms exist to compensate consumers?

When can we expect to see a single payment and exchange area in the European Union?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(30 June 2000)

The Honourable Member's question is based on an agency despatch released on 5 April 2000. The Commission cannot confirm the information contained in the question.

In February 1999, the Commission conducted a number of inquiries at banks to check whether any pricing agreements had been reached when the euro was introduced. The Member of the Commission responsible for competition announced to a Parliamentary Committee in February 2000 that signs of an agreement had been discovered and that proceedings would be initiated. At this stage in the procedure, it is simply not possible to give any information on the Member States or bodies concerned.

In its communication on retail payments in the internal market(1), the Commission gave its ideas on the gradual introduction of the single payments area, the objective being to make cross-border payments as quick, cheap and secure as domestic payments. A considerable amount of work needs to be carried out on the infrastructure to automate these payments and this will take time, but the Commission does expect steady progress to be made, resulting in substantial improvements by 1 January 2002.

(1) COM(2000) 36 final (http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/fr/finances/payment/2k-108.htm).