By CATHERINE FIELD
PARIS - The masters of the euro have just 12 months to win over an increasingly sceptical public to the European Union's single currency, battered by a slump in value to the dollar and interest rates that are sapping prospects for growth.
They had hoped 2000 would be a consolidation year, bridging the euro's conception on January 1, 1999, as a theoretical, parallel currency and its birth on January 1, 2002, when it will replace national currencies in 12 of the 15 EU states.
But 2000 has been a dreadful year, and there may be worse to come.
True, the news of late has been good. From just above parity to the dollar at the start of the year, the euro plummeted to 82USc before recovering in the past nine weeks to around 91-92c.
But this upturn was due less to the strength of the EU economy than the sense that the United States boom has run its course, analysts say.
If the US heads into a recession, capital will come flowing back eastwards across the Atlantic and the euro will strengthen.
But if it is confirmed that the US is heading for a soft landing, European money could just as quickly flood back into the US.
That would force the European Central Bank back into the vicious circle of 2000, when it had to put up the euro's interest rates six times to defend a 2 per cent inflation target threatened in part by the strong dollar, which dramatically forced up the cost of imports.
Among the European public and businesses, the loss of faith is almost palpable.
Motorists are outraged at the high cost of fuel, purchased in dollars.
Holiday-makers who travel outside the euro-zone are bitter about the purchasing power of their weak currency. Corporations are complaining about the cost of higher interest rates.
An opinion poll among 6627 voters in eight EU countries found that 47 per cent believed the introduction of the physical currency would bring more disadvantages than advantages, compared with 33 percent who felt there would be more advantages.
Euro in shaky shape for 2001
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