Almunia: Cypriots not well-informed on the Euro

European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said that according to EU opinion polls the public opinion in Cyprus is not well informed on the Euro, pointing out the need for ”increased information”.

Almunia arrived Wednesday and will address a conference Thursday entitled ”EMU Governance and Euro Changeover: Cyprus on the Path to the Adoption of the Euro”, organised by the European Commission and the Republic of Cyprus.

”There is some demand for more information about the euro, about the consequences of joining the euro and I think that this is a good opportunity to draw the attention to the authorities about the importance of increasing information, communication and to discuss and to establish agreements between all the sectors involved to avoid in the future that the introduction of the euro will create problems in the prices,” Almounia told the media after his arrival.

According to the EU Commissioner, ”the Cypriot economy is doing quite well regarding growth. Regarding micro-economic figures I think that the situation is positive and the evolution that we analyzing and monitoring is going to the right direction,” he noted.

Howerver, he said that ”the efforts should continue in the coming months because the question is not to be well prepared of joining the euro, the question is to be well prepared to draw all the consequences of being a member of the euro zone”, with a view to enjoy all the benefits of being a member of a single currency.

”This requires an effort in developing some sort of reforms and increasing the resilience of the Cyprus economy to be protected against external shocks,” he noted

”One challenge that Cyprus economy should tackle in the future is once in the single currency there will be extremely important challenges regarding long term sustainability of the public finances,” Almounia added.