LONDON, Dec. 31 -- London's square-mile financial district had its lights blazing Thursday night as bankers shunned families and friends for a three-day bash preparing for the Monday launch of the euro, Europe's new single currency. Caterers, restaurants and hotels in the City did a brisk business as top-bracket earners and their smart assistants combined New Year's Eve festivities with a countdown to the euro. Entire blocks of hotel rooms in the area were snatched up by financial companies as currency traders holed up to fine-tune electronic systems and prepare for the opening of the markets Monday. Elsewhere in London, police and transport chiefs prepared for unprecedented revelry and crowd flows into the streets in what they see as a 'test run' for next year's millennium celebrations. Bankers said they saw irony in their key role in the euro's transition to the market. London is Europe's largest financial center yet Britain is staying out of the 11-nation euro monetary union. Although the euro will become official currency in the 11 states at midnight Thursday, Europeans will not start trading in it until Monday. India said it will start trading the euro Friday, the first country to do so because it does observe a bank holiday on new year's day. The euro banknotes and coins will not start circulating until Jan. 1, 2002, but chocolate euro coins were on sale in London, Brussels and other EU capitals Thursday. Market analysts said they expected both the British pound and the US dollar to come under pressure as trading began in the new year.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the launch of the euro, but missing from Britain's reaction was the fanfare that marked the currency's entry on the scene in the 11 joining states. In Brussels, school children released 3,000 blue balloons bearing the euro symbol, and France pledged 100 euros for every newborn -- though paid as a cashless credit to a new savings account. But in London, Blair was greeted by bitter recrimination. Trade Union Congress General Secretary John Monks warned Britain risked its economy by staying out. 'It is beginning to look as if we have repeated the standard British error of coming too late to Europe to secure the best deal possible,' Monks said in a New Year address. Sir Clive Thompson, president of the Confederation of British Industry, said, 'Standing on the sidelines, watching others make decisions that affect us will achieve nothing.' But, he said, 'We are entering uncharted waters and nobody can be precisely sure of the outcome. We will soon see if one interest rate does work for 11 countries, as well as the effects of Britain's decision to stay out.' ---
Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ---
