I should like to take the opportunity here to express my gratitude to the European citizens and all parties involved in the changeover for their efforts and their fruitful collaboration with the Eurosystem over the years.
Just to flag some of the efforts made: by the end of 2001, more than 6.5 billion euro banknotes worth some EUR 133 billion and amounting to almost 50% of national banknote circulation had been frontloaded. With regard to the euro coins, more than 37.5 billion coins with a total value of around EUR 12.4 billion had been frontloaded.