Brussels stands by to celebrate launch of the euro at midnight

The European Union tonight stakes its claim to global-power status as a monetary rival to the dollar and the yen when 11 member-states irrevocably lock their currencies together to launch the euro.

Finance ministers meet in Brussels today to give formal approval to the fixed rates at which currencies will now be exchanged against the single currency - in the pound's case at 79p-80p to the euro - and to mark with balloons and champagne its launch at midnight. Yesterday the Commissioner for Monetary Affairs, Mr Yves Thibault de Silguy, forecast that the new currency would soon come to account for about 30 per cent of global trade transactions.

And, underlining once again the resolute independence of the European Central Bank from political interference, its Dutch president, Mr Wim Duisenberg, bluntly reiterated to Le Monde that he would not be retiring halfway through his eight-year term as the French had hoped. The French made his May appointment conditional on a pledge not to serve his full term, but Mr Duisenberg has made it clear on several occasions that he would himself pick the time of his going. That he should do so again yesterday, ahead of the launch, will be seen by markets and ministers struggling to make the bank more accountable as a clear reaffirmation of intent.

Today in the Council of Ministers' Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, ministers will set the euro on its way with 11 initial participants, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

And, leading the Irish delegation of six, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, nursing a bad cold, will partake of some medicinal champagne and take some comfort from the fact that the weather has made the Punches town alternative redundant. Although entitled to attend but not vote, the British Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, has cried off, insisting that a Scotsman has a higher calling on Hogmanay. Yesterday he faced new accusations of "dithering" over the euro as the Liberal Democrats called for the government to do more to prepare for the single currency.

The process begins with the regular morning tele-conference between the market operations desks of the EU's central banks and Mr Duisenberg. Each will check the market rates of the euro-11 against the dollar and then communicate the figures formally to the Commission.

There, officials will calculate the respective bilateral rates between the 11 and the euro, and present these to ministers waiting in the Justus Lipsius, who will then approve them. Following speeches, a press conference and a balloon launch, a formal notice will be published in the EU's official journal.

The new European Central Bank, which will set monetary policy and interest rates in the euro zone, will give its opinion, after which some EU finance ministers are expected to make statements.

The final settlement must be unanimously adopted before being signed by Mr Edlinger, surrounded by the other ministers.

Then it's only a matter of waiting for midnight, local time, for the euro to be launched; in Finland first, at 10 p.m. Irish time; then, an hour later, in eight countries of mainland Europe; and finally in Ireland and Portugal.

The frantic race will then begin in the financial institutions to convert the denominations of financial instruments and contracts - primarily shares and new issues of government bonds - ahead of the reopening of markets on Monday. They will also have to ensure that computer systems in and among the various establishments can "communicate" properly in the new currency.

Some 50,000, possibly many more, officials at banks, financial firms and institutions in Europe are expected to work through the weekend. Hotels around the City of London have been booked solid for weeks.

Although non-cash transactions will be conducted between the 11 in euros, coins and notes will not be issued until the start of 2002. In Leinster House this evening, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will host a reception to mark the occasion for TDs, the social partners and various other dignitaries.

The first markets to react to the euro rates will be in Asia when markets reopen on Monday. Analysts do not expect any major move in the currency's value on the first day of trading. For Ireland, much attention will be focused on the performance of sterling, which some analysts believe will be volatile in the wake of the creation of the new currency.

Euro to be set at around 79p-80p: page 16