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| | BizWatch Feature Article |
 | | Since France has a heavily subsidized public sector that consumes a large chunk of the country's budget, the government naturally tried to reduce spending in this area in order to qualify for the future common currency. |
 | | It was called the Jupp Plan; in it, prime minister Alain Jupp proposed scaling back pensions and raising the retirement age, freezing wages, and increasing the amount of hours they worked. |
 | | Fast forward to this past New Year when Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, and Finland introduced the new euro bank notes and coins officially into circulation, even though it's been trading on the exchanges since 1999. |
| www.tmcnet.com /bizwatch/articles/012302a.htm (770 words) |
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