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欧洲民众庆祝欧元的发行
2002-01-04 10:30:46
Europeans spent their way into a new era Tuesday after the midnight launch of notes and coins of the euro currency that will be shared by 300 million people and is hoped will cement peace and prosperity on the continent.
A project with its roots in the rubble of World War Two, the 12 euro zone countries began swapping currencies like the Italian lire, the French franc and the German mark for what will be the most widely used common money since the Roman Empire.
Europeans queued at cash machines to get their hands on their first crisp new euro notes as fireworks across the currency area, stretching from the Arctic Circle to the Greek islands, heralded what leaders called an historic day. In a huge logistical exercise, enough new bank notes to stretch to the moon and back two and a half times, if put end to end, will be distributed across the euro zone. Tons of old national bank notes will be shredded and coinage melted down.
There were some technical hitches though, with cash machines out of order in many places including the Grand Place square in Europe's administrative capital of Brussels. Where people did manage to get hold of the new cash, their verdicts were mixed.
"It doesn't look real. It's small, isn't it? It's a funny color. It doesn't smell like money," said Irish tourist Kieran O'Brien, 38, who had just withdrawn an orange and brown 50-euro note from a cash machine in Amsterdam.
"God how ugly! They look so cold metallic, boring and soulless," said Michela Moccia, 34, handling euro notes in Rome.
The new notes in purple, yellow, green, blue, red and orange bear architectural designs of bridges and arches rather than national cultural symbols or figureheads. The coins bear national emblems on one side like Germany's landmark Brandenburg Gate and Belgium's King Albert, a map of Europe on the reverse.
"Feeling Of Connection"
Those are expected to quickly become mixed up as tourists and business people use the currency across the euro zone.
In Frankfurt, home to the European Central Bank (ECB) which manages the euro, one man was seen giving a 10-euro note a kiss after retrieving it from a cash machine.
Thekla Bauer, 57, taking photos of the celebrations in Frankfurt, said: "Now that I have the money in my hand, I have the feeling of connection -- as if we share the same language."
The euro was formally launched on January 1, 1999 for transactions between banks when the exchange rates of participating national currencies were irrevocably fixed. It has lost a third of its value against the dollar since then.
The cash launch meant it became reality for Europe's citizens who can now easily compare prices throughout the bloc and do not have to exchange money as they travel in the zone.
Queuing at a cash machine in the Finnish capital Helsinki, Andrea Bergman and Antti Kihlstrom, both 21, said they wanted euros Tuesday for a trip to Spain's Canary Islands.
First Euros Buy Lychees
The first purchase recorded with the new money was one kilo of lychees, bought on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion whose geographical position made it the first European territory to see in the New Year and handle the euro.
Germany, the currency bloc's most populous country, marked the changeover with fireworks and raucous street party in sub-zero temperatures around Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
Germans have been among the most reluctant to adopt the euro because they cherished their Deutschemark as a symbol of post-war stability and prosperity.
But former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, one of the main drivers behind monetary union in the 1990s, said the common currency should bind together once bitter enemies.
"The fathers of the euro wanted to stop us having to visit future war cemeteries," he said last week.
In Vienna, European Commission President Romano Prodi marked the launch by buying his wife a bouquet of red and white roses with euro notes, saying he was happy with the launch so far, but work would be needed to educate citizens about the currency.
Queues are expected at train stations and in supermarkets in the coming days as people fumble to swap old money for new.
And the grand visions of European unity and peace will likely be far from the minds of shoppers and retailers amid fears banks of running out of the new cash or stores pushing through hidden price rises in the conversion.
In Portugal's capital Lisbon, vending machines in metro stations accepted euros and taxi meters had been switched over to the new currency, but as revelers celebrated the New Year, bars had yet to make the change from escudos.
Not All Roses
While many embraced the new money, some mourned the passing of familiar national currencies, to be phased out by the end of February in most euro zone countries.
In the northern German town of Gifhorn, 100 people wearing black suits and top hats staged a symbolic funeral procession and buried an oversized Deutschemark, throwing their last coins into the grave to the accompaniment of somber music.
By Monday, some six billion bank notes and 37 billion coins worth 144 billion euros ($127.5 billion) had been distributed in advance to banks, shops and businesses, or sold as starter kits of coins.
The Deutschemark's simple exchange rate against the euro -- about two to one -- makes it easier for Germans to get used to the new money than the French, who must multiply by 6.56 to get the franc price, or the Austrians, who multiply by 13.76.
In France, the cash launch will be complicated by planned strikes by banking and postal workers called for Wednesday.
One Italian survey found bank and shopworkers were suffering headaches, insomnia and even loss of sex drive due the stress of the launch. Dermatologists have warned the high nickel content of the coins could cause skin irritations.
The euro has also been dogged by concern about its depreciation in exchange markets since its 1999 introduction.
And Tuesday's celebrations will not remove doubts about a one-size-fits-all monetary policy under which the ECB sets one interest rate for the entire euro zone even though national economies are moving at different speeds.
EU members Britain, Denmark and Sweden have opted not to join the single currency, but the euro could become a parallel currency there too as it is expected to be accepted in stores.
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