The Euro - it's here!!! (Changing foreign currency)

Member Name: fionajm

Product:	Changing foreign currency
Date:	02/01/02 (1009 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Common pricing system

Disadvantages: Initially confusing, People not too keen on change

Well it has been coming for some time and us Brits aren't in it but we are bound to be affected by it in many ways - economically, on holiday, in high street stores in the UK and we may even have the Euro as our currency one day.

The currency is very new beginning as legal tender on 1 Jan 2002. Today more than 300 million people started to use the new currency and rated as the biggest ever money changeover in history.

Here is my guide to what it is, exchange rates, and which countries now have the Euro as their national currency. I don't intend to write a big economic piece at this time as I think there is possibly too much confusion around, so I intend to try to make things a little easier on you all away from all the hype and the news reports.

Euro bank notes and coins

The Euro has been introduced in 12 Member States of the European Union, with seven different banknotes and eight different coins. The only countries to be out of the 'Euro Zone' are the UK, Denmark and Sweden keeping hold of the Pound and the Krone.

It is useful for any traveller or dealer to familiarise themself with how the Euro looks. And for patriotic Europeans, each coin has one side specifically representing each region and the other side represents the whole of Europe and is the same in each state... but I don't know what the point of this is as I am sure it will all get jumbled up in time!! The banknotes are however identical. If you would like to see the new notes and coins go to this site:

http://www.euro.ecb.int/en/section/recog.html

On 1 January 2002 the euro coins came into circulation.

The coins come in the following values:

1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cent

One euro = 100 cents.

And for those who are visually impaired:

Milled edges have been introduced to make it easier on the coins for people with problems with their sight. Each coin has a different feel. Th
e notes are also different sizes for this very same reason.

The notes have standard denominations from 5 to 500 Euro.

Conversion rates in Euro

Belgian Franc = 40.3399
Austrian Schilling = 13.7603
French Franc = 6.55957
Finnish Markka = 5.94573
Luxembourg Franc = 40.3399
Italian Lira = 1936.27
Netherlands Gilder = 2.20371
Greek Drachma = 340.750

Portuguese Ecudo = 200.482
Irish Punt = 0.787564
German Mark = 1.95583
Spanish Pesata = 166.386

Easy to remember who is in ... BAFFLING PIGS of course!!

When will the old legal tender cease to be able to be used?

9th Feb = Irish Punt
17 Feb = French Franc
27 Jan = Dutch Gilder
28 Feb all other euro regions

So what should you do about old currency in your bottom draw?

I would suggest that you exchange it at a bank/ building society/ travel shop asap.. or alternatively you could donate it to charity. After 28 February you may have some problems in exchanging your old coins and noteds.

So do you think you might be affected?

This is a very useful site with loads of fact sheets on what the effect could be on you.

http://www.euro.gov.uk/home.asp?f=1

But the answer is probably yes, especially if you own or work in a business that has its base or subsidiaries in the Euro Zone, like to go on holiday in the Euro Zone. Even on the simplest level the pound will now be wholly competing with the Euro in the EU currency markets so it will be interesting to see how our currency does in the next few months now the Euro is live.

Will the currency lead to higher prices?

Well I would say not, although prices will be in whole cents after conversion there is a rule that states that the third decimal place must be rounded up between 5-9 and rounded down between 0 to 4. Hopefully the Euro may even standardise prices across the EU, although as we see in the UK
there are price differences from one region to another... so who knows, maybe there will be little difference all round.

So is everyone happy... ?

Well no, Tiscali reported that:

"At Berlin's central Zoo train station a middle-aged man showed annoyance at the demise of the mighty German mark.

"I don't want this crap money," he said on receiving his change in euros rather than marks."

But then this is bound to happen, people are never so keen on seeing things change. It is all down to being comfortable with what you have got. The same thing happened in the UK over decimalisation and we got over it then.

Good or bad it is here to stay- and hopefully my small guide for you all will help you to take that first small step into the Euro Zone.

Summary: