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The government is considering a major marketing campaign to inform

the UK public about the need to familiarise themselves with the euro

following the launch of the single currency in most EU states this

week.

If the campaign gets the go-ahead, the public information programme will

include a range of media.

It will focus on the message that Britons will no longer be able to use

any of the national currencies of the countries within the Eurozone from

the end of February.

The campaign will target people who may be unaware of the changeover

dates and the fact that they will need to use euro notes and coins when

travelling to countries such as France, Germany and Italy.

It is not known whether agencies have been approached about creating the

advertising.

However, any UK government campaign that promotes awareness of the euro

could provoke fierce opposition from the Conservative Party, which is

likely to view it as an attempt to pave the way for a referendum on

joining the the single currency.

Europe minister Peter Hain insisted this week that the euro would affect

Britain whether or not it joined the single currency.

"About 40 million Britons who will travel to Europe this year on

holiday, and business will use and touch the new currency," he said. "A

successful changeover is in Britain's interest because half of our trade

is with Europe."

The proposed advertising campaign will be separate from the work of the

European Central Bank, which has run ads created by Publicis across the

Eurozone to inform people about the look of the coins and notes. The ads

ran in the UK on satellite channels such as CNN and on billboards at

Heathrow.

This week, the pro-euro pressure group Britain in Europe launched a

poster campaign through BMP DDB to highlight the folly of Britain

retaining the pound.