The Euro


Anyone traveling to Europe will no doubt face the new currency. "The Euro." So, I here all you Americans say “What’s the big deal, we’ve had a single monetary currency for a life time?”

Those of you hopping from one European country to another will find the single currency a god send, no more paying exchange rate commissions, no more having to work out the value of different currencies into your own currency, no more carrying home lots of unwanted loose change that you won’t be able to change into your own currency. What a relief! But there is the other side of the coin. Are Europeans losing their identity? Are we losing our individuality that makes us incomparable to the rest of the world?

Since the introduction of the Euro prices have risen, but our incomes have remained stagnant. The elderly are not able to come to grips with this money, therefore mistakes are made and usually at the peril of the innocent.

Great Britain is fighting to keep their independence of the great British pound, but alas I fear the worst is yet to come. The Euro will sneak its way into the homes of the British like a sleek panther waiting in the shadows for the right moment to pounce soundlessly and swiftly onto its oblivious pray.

A word of advice for anyone traveling to Great Britain, Don’t spend your Euro in Britain. There have been many cases where the innocent tourist has been ridiculously over charged via the Euro. Taxi drivers in London have been known to charge an extra 5 pounds just to change the Euro, plus your change, nine times out of ten will be given in Pounds. The banks charge 3% commission to change your Euro, 100 Euro will buy you 66 pounds in a bank.

The best bet of changing money in my experience is to look for a foreign exchange bureau that advertises no commission to pay. On arrival at the airport there is usually one.

A little history lesson and facts about the Euro.
1979 the ECU (European Currency Unit) was established, which was the forerunner to the Euro. The ECU was a unit of accounting used to determine exchange rates amongst the national currencies.
1993 the European union began to work and discuss the Euro.
1995 the name of the Euro was born.
1999 Banks started to work dealing in the Euro using cheques and bank transfers
01/01/2002 everyone used the Euro as a currency.
01/31/2002 the old currency of the country’s were no longer accepted in shops.

There are 15 countries in the European community, but only 12 countries are involved in the Euro. Great Britain is still debating whether to have the Euro or not at this stage.

The twelve lands of the Euro:
Belgium, France, Spain, Holland, Germany, Portugal, Ireland (south), Luxemburg, Italy, Greece, Austria, Finland

The remaining 3 countries who are not using the Euro are:
Sweden, Great Britain and Denmark

We write the Euro as €

There are 7 notes 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 Euro,

There are 2 coins of Euro, 1 and 2 Euro and 6 coins of cents, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents.

Now, here is the confusing part. On the faces of the coins from each of the 12 participating countries you will find an object or symbol representing these countries. The money has exactly the same value. For instance, Belgium has the face of King Albert on the coins, but you can go to Holland, spend it and get the coins with Queen Beatrix in return. The latest trend here is to try and get a set of each country’s coins. So don’t be surprised if someone asks you to swap one coin for another.

What does this new money look like?

Here you go my lovelies, a view into European money, but another bit of advice, try not to spend the 500 and 100 Euro in the shops, not everyone is willing to take them. Best thing you can do is change them into smaller denominations.

(Denomination, Size (mm), Colour, Architectural period)

E500, 160 x 82mm, Purple, Modern 20th century design
E200, 153 x 82mm, Yellow-brown, Iron and glass architecture
E100, 147 x 82mm, Green, Baroque and rococo
E50, 140 x 77mm, Orange, Renaissance
E20, 133 x 72mm, Blue, Gothic
E10, 127 x 67mm, Red, Romanesque
E5, 120 x 62mm, Grey, Classical

Written exclusively for Poetrybox.com by:

Gaynor Morgan