by De Boisseau

Entre nous And now for something completely trivial The daily message from the Breydel and the member states is that the EU must put its citizens first, but some people appear not to be listening, as Emma Bonino discovered the other day. The Commissioner for, among other things, consumer affairs, had chosen the general council meeting of the European Mortgage Federation in Brussels as just the right place to tackle the issue of the single currency and the consumer.

Bonino put together seven pages of closely-argued text, analyzing the psychological impact of swapping national currencies for the euro and warning that millions of people will continue to think in their old currencies even when the new one is circulating.

She also set out three guiding principles for an EU policy aimed at winning round the ordinary man and woman in the street : directing basic information at customers; always taking account of them in drafting Euro-legislation; and convincing them that they will not be ripped off when the single currency arrives.

As she rose to leave, Max-Paul Sebag, who was chairing the debate, began to introduce the Bundesbank chief economist Otmar Issing, with the words: "And now we will turn to something important."

Entre Nous hopes Bonino didn't hear you, Sebag, for your sake.