Euro info stalls to hit the markets
Cheek-by-jowl with stalls heaped with fruit and vegetables at street markets all over the country, neat little booths manned by civil servants will spring up over the next few days to fill in market-goers on the euro, the government said yesterday. Following a meeting between Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis, Bank of Greece Governor Lucas Papademos and members of the National Committee for the Euro, it was decided to set up 400 such euro stalls. Furthermore, a telephone hot line also intended to answer Greeks’ questions on the new currency – which will become legal tender on January 1 – will be set up as of December 17. The 198 hot line will function 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As of December 17 when the first batches of euros will go on sale to the general public, the government will sponsor a nationwide series of polls to see what consumers find least comprehensible about the new currency. The delay which has been accumulated in the first years is still existing, he said. The remaining time to achieve the huge task that is necessary to be ready for the Games needs a lot of hard work. We cannot lose any day. It will be a race against the clock until the end. We have to keep the pressure on.
