Two more weeks and it's Euro time

December 17, 2001 3:56 AM

Two more weeks and it's Euro time Have you got your euro coins already ? You can have them now. Are you worried by Euro, what will be the advantages of euro ? Your comments are welcome
posted by elpapacito (41 comments total)

Just for the record, since its life-span is bound to be limited, I'd like to pointout the Eurotrash weblog again, which treats the single subject of the euro conversion.

Also, although only one in three Germans think the Euro will benefit them (still being deeply in love with the 50-year-old DMark), they "are expected to buy up to 100 million euro starter kits of 20 coins worth just over 10 euros." And the Germans have it easy: almost exactly two Deutschmarks are equal to a single euro, so the math is easy, unlike in countries such as France where for large sums it will be necessary to convert to at least the thousandth place. Still, as one person said, all this hullaboo may be for nothing: "This is a border town—we're used to dealing with two, three or more currencies in our heads. One more won't make any difference."

Except for the ongoing amored car robberies, I suspect this will finish like the Y2K bug.

Also, this interesting fact 4% of Americans, or about 12 million, visited Europe last year.
posted by Mo Nickels at 5:10 AM on December 17, 2001

"Have you got your euro coins already?"

I'm English ... so .. errr ... no.
posted by MintSauce at 5:41 AM on December 17, 2001

Picked up my free set of Eurocoins from the post office on Friday. They look good (unlike the bank notes). I'm not 'ready' for them, but will deal with them on Jan 2nd as with any strange currency. Bewildered at first, and gradually getting used to 'em. No big deal.
posted by prolific at 5:59 AM on December 17, 2001

Euro: big waste of time and great way to impose the weakness of south European economies upon northern Europe. Look for its abolition within ten years.
posted by ParisParamus at 6:06 AM on December 17, 2001

We (UK) have done good by not getting involved.
posted by Frasermoo at 6:08 AM on December 17, 2001

Hmmm... I am a Euro optimist --naturally, since I am from the European South. Surprisingly, so is The Economist.

Paris: I don't think the Euro can be 'repealed'. It's quite possibly the largest logistical operation ever attempted. Undoing it would be as massive.

Secondly, the imbalance of financial strength between the European North and the European South is not much different from that in the US. I have driven through both backwater Greece --my homeland, and the poorest EU member currently-- and backwater Alabama and Tennesee. Greece is way better off, even though the US Federal Government actively invests in the South --through military bases (Huntsville, Al.), Federal research facilities (Oak Ridge Nat'l Labs, Tenn.), etc., while the EU only supports infrastructure development (e.g, highways, very much like the Interstate system in the US).

Despite this imparity, noone is talking over repealing the US dollar; a currency is as strong as the market for it, and the Eurozone market is not a small (or weak) one.

As for the poor Brits (I work in London): Fortress Britain is the bridge between the American and European financial eco-systems. As long as being this bridge is profitable (which maybe for a while to come), the UK will stick with the pound. However, I cannot see how the strongest EU economy can resist joining the largest single market in the world. Prediction: QE2's head will be on a Euro coin within the decade.

I am betting money that the Brits would have adopted the Euro wholeheartedly if they could get the Queen's head on the paper notes as well :-)...
posted by costas at 6:23 AM on December 17, 2001

No, we need a stronger Europe to stop America calling the shots.
posted by Mocata at 6:25 AM on December 17, 2001

I personally would have no philosophical objection to ditching the pound. For me, the argument is purely economic. I don't think we (in Britain) have really been given enough information to make a proper decision as to whether we would be better off in the Euro. I suspect this is because nobody has a clue, including the main proponents on either side.
posted by salmacis at 6:51 AM on December 17, 2001

I'm personally very excited about the Euro because I'm going to travel through Europe in January. I'll need to only convert a single time once I've been through the Chunnel, and hopefully I can pick up some souvenir local currencies along the way before they're extinct, just like my Hong Kong dollars.

Seriously, stash the local stuff. Your grandkids will love you when they sell it on Ebay on the "antique paper currency" section.

(email me if you have travel location suggestions, we're Eurailing it.)
posted by phoenix enflamed at 6:58 AM on December 17, 2001

Thanks for the EUROTRASH plug, Mr. Nickels. As the site says, we are still looking for people on the ground in Austria, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain who are willing to transmit firsthand news of euro-related quirkiness. It's kind of an experiment in personal/amateur journalism and international democracy, or something.
posted by davidfg at 6:58 AM on December 17, 2001

(I knew you were on here, David, but I couldn't remember your handle).
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:03 AM on December 17, 2001

Yawn.
posted by fleener at 7:07 AM on December 17, 2001

In a disturbingly "American" exchange, I mentioned the pending Euro introduction to one of the ladies behind the counter at our small-town post office. I then spent the next five minutes of my life being told how this was just another step forward to the "One World Government Of The Antichrist".

Has this sort of babbling sprung up anywhere in the general public discourse in EU member nations? If you're in. Or is this sort of "Christian-Fundamentalist Isolationism" the exclusive domain of us backwater Yanks?
posted by tpoh.org at 7:28 AM on December 17, 2001

Whatever the socioeconomic and political consequences, I think the notes are pretty .
posted by normy at 7:41 AM on December 17, 2001

The notes are kinda bland and flavorless --by design, unfortunately. The coins on the other hand, are a much better compromise: a generic (bland though) design on one face, a country-specific one on the other. Comparing and contrasting the designs are somewhat of an insight into each country, methinks.
posted by costas at 7:49 AM on December 17, 2001

Yawn.
posted by fleener at 7:07 AM PST on December 17

Oh, well, now I understand everything.
posted by Skot at 8:06 AM on December 17, 2001

Oh, well, now I understand everything.

You've been fleenered™!
posted by rodii at 8:24 AM on December 17, 2001

I like calling it The European Peso. But to be frank, it reminds me more about those Beenz and Flooz thingies. At least the black market for dollars and gold should be ripe!
posted by dagny at 9:41 AM on December 17, 2001

€Kw/me
posted by Down10 at 9:54 AM on December 17, 2001

I wonder if they are printing 500 Euro notes to purposely increase their blackmarketshare. Large bills makes smuggling and laundering money easier.
posted by euphorb at 12:25 PM on December 17, 2001

oops. here's is that link.
posted by euphorb at 12:27 PM on December 17, 2001

Seriously, stash the local stuff.
The Spanish government, when asked about who would be footing the bill for the changeover, explained that just in people stashing old pesetas, they would make 500 million euros.
posted by Zootoon at 1:00 PM on December 17, 2001

Everyone's talking about acquiring the new euros... But I'm a hopelessly nostalgic American aesthete who loves the look and feel of old-style European paper money.

I'd be more interested in getting my hands on a set of soon-to-disappear bills in small denominations. Has anyone seen that niche being marketed to?
posted by Zurishaddai at 1:37 PM on December 17, 2001

costas: Being a bridge as always profitable. That's the point of an economy based around selling services isn't it?

As for the largest single market, isn't that NAFTA? Or China/India soon? I don't think we'll (British) be joining them.
posted by nedrichards at 2:41 PM on December 17, 2001

Washington Post story on British retail's attitude toward the euro: Up and down [Ashford's] busy High Street -- that's the British equivalent of Main Street -- many of the shops, pubs and restaurants say they will accept euros without a quibble. "We've talked about it at the Chamber of Commerce, and most people agree that we should take them," said Emma, the cashier at the local branch of Wimpy's, a fast-food chain. "Personally, I'm just as happy with pounds and pence. But if taking euros will sell burgers, we will do."

posted by Carol Anne at 2:53 PM on December 17, 2001

I just had a question about these starter kits. I realize with conversion and all, it's not a set amount, but out of curiosity, about how much money are they giving away in the kits? Enough to buy a candy bar? Take a train or bus? I can't even imagine changing over to a whole new currency system, I still get disconcerted when I get the new American bills, and all they did was make layout and size changes to the old bills.
posted by headspace at 4:05 PM on December 17, 2001

So is everyone's browser ready for the changeover?
€ = €
posted by Zurishaddai at 4:39 PM on December 17, 2001

Hmmm...that seems like a tautology...can I make this work? Let's try again.
€ = €
posted by Zurishaddai at 4:42 PM on December 17, 2001

I've had my Portuguese keyboard for three years and the Euro symbol(€) has been sitting here on my E key(Alt+E)just waiting to be used.
But the Dollar sign($))is on the 4 key, and is way superior, being Shift+4.
The Pound sign(£) is on the 3 key, but is Alt+3.
The actual Escudo sign, which should be $ with an extra vertical dash, does not exist. Nor do any other currency symbols.
So the dollar still reigns supreme in Euro-bound Portugal and the Escudo has already disappeared.
What does it all mean?
I blame Amazon, myself.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:44 PM on December 17, 2001

Secondly, the imbalance...not much different from that in the US....Tennesee.

Except that (1) no one in the north of the United States volunteered to have a capital/investment migration take place: it was a product of history. (2) Germans won't be moving to Spain any time soon (whereas people move to Texas), so the effect will just make the south poorer

But actually, my favorite reason for hating the Euro is that it will just accelerate the United States' cultural and economic colonization of Europe. If big mediocre stores like Carrefour can overrun France and Europe, think what well-run ones like Wallmart and the Gap will do? Of course, the satisfying silver lining is that the Europeans think the Euro will make Europe stronger. Sorry: it will just make inevitable faster what was going to happen anyway; Paramus overrunning Paris : (
posted by ParisParamus at 8:55 PM on December 17, 2001

Don't worry too much, ParisParamus. We do have, you know, good shops, reasonable food, rather nice clothes, OK cars, some more or less well- run companies, an acceptable supermarket or two, a couple of sufferable newspapers, not bad music, some readable books and the odd bit of culture that should just about save us from being culturally and economically colonized by the United States. :)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:44 PM on December 17, 2001

Headspace, I think Holland is the only country giving out free money at this time. Everyone over 6 gets one of each euro coin, or € 3.88 , about equal to $ 3.52. Which is 7.42 Mars bars.
posted by thijsk at 12:52 AM on December 18, 2001

ParisParamus: it was a product of history.

The fact that you're living through it doesn't mean it isn't a product of history, nor that the event itself won't be history once it has happened.

P.S. - I like your dichotomy of Germans vs. people.
posted by NortonDC at 4:48 AM on December 18, 2001

ParisParamus: it was a product of history.


My point is that the United States started out as a few colonies and empty land; not developed economies (who gave away their autonomy to control fiscal and monetary policy.

Actually, my remarks weren't meant to be that serious. But I do like that that Euro is worth less than 90 US cents. It's a rough measure of how wrong the Euro is.

It was SO fun to describe the Euro as STUPIDE to those law professors at the Univertsité de Paris II in 1992. Happy Anniversary to that!
posted by ParisParamus at 6:42 AM on December 18, 2001

Can't anyone tell me how many Euros in an American Dollar? The convertor on that site only does Eurpoean curreny. Grrr.
posted by bradlauster at 7:43 AM on December 18, 2001

bradlauster - about a buck, a little more.

ParisParamus - My point is that the United States started out as a few colonies and empty land; not developed economies (who gave away their autonomy to control fiscal and monetary policy.

That's not historically accurate. States and even banks issued their own currency back in the day in the US. Fed notes came later.
posted by NortonDC at 7:54 AM on December 18, 2001

bradlauster,
€1 = $0.90, or $1 = €1.11 ...this is quite handy.
posted by normy at 7:57 AM on December 18, 2001

Wow, I had to go confirm that over with CNN's currency converter. Wasn't the Euro, at conception, close to $2?
posted by NortonDC at 8:07 AM on December 18, 2001

We do have, you know, good shops, reasonable food, rather nice clothes, OK cars, some more or less well- run companies, an acceptable supermarket or two, a couple of sufferable newspapers, not bad music, some readable books and the odd bit of culture that should just about save us from being culturally and economically colonized by the United States.

Don't feel too secure, Miguel - we in America had most of those things too, and they didn't protect us from Wal-mart or The Gap....

-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 9:17 AM on December 18, 2001

Don't feel too secure, Miguel - we in America had most of those things too, and they didn't protect us from Wal-mart or The Gap....

Actually, we still do, but they're harder and harder to find, especially away from New York and a few big cities.

But Miguel, my hope was to keep Europe, and especially France, a kind of theme park, frozen in 1984, when I was chasing skirts, enjoying the food, riding the trains for free, and wallowing in the wine, architecture and lack of chain store commerce. And now...well, it's just too depressing for words....
posted by ParisParamus at 10:28 AM on December 18, 2001

MiguelCardoso
Yes, we do have books, museums, food, clothes, newspapers and stuff. But especially we have SOCCER! (as I suppose -- hope -- that you too admire the genius of Sergio Conceicao).
posted by matteo at 12:01 PM on December 18, 2001