On 8 October 1997, in Brussels, Philippe Maystadt, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Foreign Trade, gives an address to the Members of the General Commission for the Euro — given the task of preparing the Belgian public administrations and economic operators for the single currency — in which he outlines the future timetable for the implementation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and welcomes the efforts already made in the country with a view to the introduction and subsequent entry into circulation of the euro.