Check Your Change: The Euro Cometh

Check Your Change: The Euro Cometh

On January 1, 2002, all countries involved in the European Union (except Britain) will change currency to the euro (€). This is fantastic news for travellers, who will no longer have to change currency half a dozen times during a trip, be stuck with pocketloads of unchangeable coins, and have to do hasty mental conversions from one currency to another, but what about the people of Europe? How do they feel about the loss of the franc, deutchmark, markka, crown, punt etc. – those national symbols of a country, its economy?

I personally would have thought that there would be much more protest and anxiety amongst the peoples of Europe about to lose their everyday coins and bills. Especially in countries such as Ireland and Germany who at the moment have relatively strong curencies. They will not lose purchasing power in comparison to their economically weaker neighbours with the introduction of the Euro but, if the value of the euro drops after the continent has adopted it, the populations may think it would have been better to stick with their former, stronger currencies. In other words, I would have expected that the mixed pool of economically disciplined countries, and more of those which may be more lax, would have cast doubt in the minds of the citizens of Europe regarding the future strengh of the euro. But there dosen’t seem to be any political hesitation. Maybe the rallies were staged when the concept of the euro was introduced, and people are now resigned to the inevitable. Perhaps they even welcome their new monetary system?

In any event, Ireland and Germany are both very strong EU, and therefore euro, supporters. Perhaps this is because, after WW2, the concept of Europe was a way “in” for Germany politically, and because the EU has given a lot of financial development funds to the previously economically struggling Ireland. This traditional loyalty does not, however, help to dispel the ever-present fears that the euro won’t perform well on the international market. It is probable that this will in turn disappear when the euro is applied across the continent as the everyday currency.

Whereas most people are relatively unconcerned with the engulfing of their traditional currency by that of the euro, one group of people are particularly worried. The conversion to the new money will be quite painless for the young, but the older generation will find it especially difficult to abandon their old system and adjust to the new currency. They are not the only ones either. Whereas most people are resigned to the letting go of their franc etc, they do worry about the period of time just after the changeover, when the prices will no longer make any sense. In France, things will seem cheaper (FF50 being worth around €7.62), so people are concerned that they will spend too much. Making this fear worse is the number of shopkeepers keen on making a profit out of peoples’ confusion, by raising the price of goods during the conversion to euro.

In order to combat this apprehension, the EU has produced a number of ads to publicise “our money” as well as many different infomercials, appealing to all members of the family, that answer the most common concerns citizens have about changing currency. Governments have set up websites and ad campaigns, have posted information and pocket converters to all households, and held local information meetings, all to ready their populations for the big day next year. Shops already list their prices in the two currencies, hoping to familiarise their customers with the new money before January 1.

In Europe, the majority consider the introduction of the euro to be a good thing. They see it as a way to financially unite the European Union, without compromising each country’s national identity. They accept that it had to happen, and will probably embrace “their money”. It will certainly make dealing with Europe in terms of money easier for international business and travellers alike, and may, as it is hoped, present a challenge to the dominance of the greenback (€1 is approx. equal to US$1).

But all this will take time, time for the populations to adjust to the new bits of change finding their way into pockets and wallets across the continent. In the meantime, I will be saving those pieces of previously unchangeable shrapnel from all my cross-European voyages. Who knows? In 50 years time they might be valuable museum pieces.

Want to learn more about the euro? Check out the Money section of BootsnAll’s Traveller’s Toolkit.

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