THE HAGUE, 20/09/00 - The finance ministry was able to announce a 2001 budget in surplus on Princes Day, for the first time in 51 years. Another noteworthy fact is that the budget is the last one in Dutch guilders.

History is being written, even if nobody appears to be taking too much notice of this. Last year, the amount in euros was already printed in the budget beside a number of items to make a start with getting used to the new currency. This year, all amounts are given in both guilders and euros.

Next year, when the budget for 2002 is presented, guilders will disappear and everything will be in euros, with the result that during the general political and financial debate on the budget, held shortly after Prince's Day, MPs cannot ask for millions of extra guilders but only for extra euros. This will mean roughly halving their sums, as 1 euro is worth just over 2.20 guilders.

The general public will have three months, on 1 January 2002, to get really used to euros when these are introduced as the sole means of payments. Four weeks later, the guilder will finally disappear.