Are trading systems set up in Brussels enough to do without the euro for a week? Non-profit organisation Financité wants to find out. From May 6-12, Financité is proposing people in Brussels try going for a week without spending a single euro to test "to what extent it is possible to forego using the official currency to live." This is a project undertaken in partnership with the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (Cermi) of the Free University of Brussels (ULB).
Alternative trading systems are multiplying in the capital: the Zinne, a local Brussels currency, has been in circulation since mid-March and there are countless local services exchange systems (Sel), frigos solidaires (supportive fridges), donation centres, kitchen garden collectives, Repair Cafés, mechanisms for the collection of dead stock, as well as book collection boxes.
Would all these initiatives be resilient enough for Brussels dwellers to satisfy their needs if official money became unavailable one day, as is already the case in Venezuela and Greece? To test this, Financité is inviting anyone who wishes to register online and fill out a questionnaire throughout a week of experimentation from May 6-12.
The exercise is organised in connection with the project research-action (E)Change Brussels conducted by Financité and Cermi. (E)Change Bruxelles, already behind the evolution of the Zinne, is financed by Innoviris, The Brussels Institute for Research and Innovation.
All information, as well as preparatory advice, may be found at www.semainesanseuro.com.
The Brussels Times
Non profit proposes Brussels go "a week without the euro"
