NECC and neck

Labour, or at least its leader, is against the euro being introduced in 2008. I have not quite worked out why, nor whether Alfred Sant will do to the euro what he promised to do to membership of the European Union and what he now says he will do to the retirement age should the government raise this; which the government says it will. Swiftly, he says, within six months of being returned to power - if he were ever to be returned to power - he will lower that retirement age. But whatever he may think, the euro will be here for good if we pass the entry test. Dr Sant can no longer take us out of it than he can run 100 metres in under 10 seconds.

One gets the impression that the education campaign launched by the National Euro Changeover Committee (NECC) is slowly gathering momentum. If the information race to the finishing line is to be won, NECC has to be leading the public by more than a few necks. There are signs it is doing so.

The voluntary display (as an information tool for the public) of dual prices for goods and services in the liri and in the euro starts next January; the obligatory display, next July. Unlike the VAT-CET saga, there will be no changes required to be made in cash registers; therefore no additional cost to sellers and service providers. During the interregnum, July 2007-July 2008, a fixed rate of exchange will be set. A Fair-Pricing Agreement in Retailing has already been drawn up to guard against retailers rounding up prices in their favour. This will, naturally, dampen any inflationary trend that would be fatal to our bid to join the currency.

But there is still some way to go, not so much psychologically - the decimalisation of our currency under Dom Mintoff has seen to that - before the public starts to feel easy. In fact, it will not do so until the dual pricing business comes into effect and people start getting used to liri prices in euro terms. No doubt, the NECC will be saturating the media with this aspect well before July 2007. A better standard of education than existed in 1973 will help its message to come across. Perhaps it should ask the Education Ministry to provide information to students who will then be able to natter about it at home.