Press Release: Progress in preparations for the euro, but Europe’s SMEs still not fully ready

The Eurobarometer FLASH survey published on 15.5.01 revealed that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were becoming more aware of the euro: only 15% of them reckoned that it was too early to start getting ready, compared with 23% in January 2001, and 60% of Europe's SMEs thought that it was time to get ready to abandon national currencies. In spite of these encouraging results, the level of preparation was still quite low, with only one SME in four regarding itself as ready, which was almost exactly the same figure as in January 2001. In addition, 10% of the SMEs said that they would not be able to conduct all transactions in euros until after 1 January 2002.