Commissioner Kinnock, deputising for Commissioner de Silguy who could not be present, said that the Commission was unable to accept any of Parliament’s amendments on the national face, abandonment of the two euro coins, simplification of the size of coins and elimination of nickel. Accepting these amendments would mean that production of euro coins could not reliably start the following year and would therefore jeopardise the deadline of 2002. The Commissioner also considered that the Commission’s proposal was based on criteria of public acceptability, technical feasibility and public health and responded to both industrial constraints and the requirements of users. In particular, as regards the national face of coins, Mr Kinnock pointed out that this decision had been taken in April 1996 by the Finance Ministers and had been confirmed in June of that year at the Florence European Council by the Heads of State and Government. Since that date, all the preparatory work had been based on that decision and France, Germany and Belgium had already unveiled their design for the national face and the other Member States concerned were about to do so. The Commissioner finally said that he was prepared to accept four amendments: Nos 1, 2 and 3 in part and the first paragraph of No 8.