The new EURO coins and banknotes were given legal tender status on 1st January 2002, and from that date have been used in twelve of the fifteen member states of the European Union. Their respective national banks will exchange their own old notes until 2012.
It is also to be noted that the Euro is used in overseas territories of E.U. members where those territiories would previously have used the national currency of its mother country. There are other users as well - in the Kasbah and tourist areas of Tangiers in Morocco, and many other similar places the locals have priced everything in Euros, and expect payment in Euros, although they do accept dollars, and pounds as well.
If you asked a shop-keeper in England to accept Euros, or dollars, they would look at you as if you were mad, and go and sit in a dark corner to regain their composure. In this respect Britain is archaic. I have travelled extensively in Continental Europe for over 30 years, and almost without exception, wherever you were, pounds and dollars, and many other European curencies would be accepted - subject to a comfortable exchange rate, of course - but in the U.K., retail outlets would accept English, Scottish, or Irish notes only. Even coins of Ireland (which were exactly the same size, and make-up as their English counterparts) would not be accepted, with the notable exception of the Island of Angelsey, which is a major British ferry port for crossings to Ireland, where they would accept any Irish money. It's time Britain accepted the Euro, and in the next few years - it will.
Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican (whose borders are within the European Union) also use the Euro, and have issued their own individual Euro coins following the same pattern as the main countries, but in numbers significantly lower than those for the 12 main issuers. Their cost and re-sale have been reaching very high prices.
The remaining three member states of the first 12 to join the Union who are not party to the European Single Currency Agreement, will continue using only their own indigenous currencies for the foreseeable future, but may eventually join the others and commence using the Euro. They are Great Britain, Denmark, and Sweden. Denmark and Sweden have already voted 'NO' to the acceptance of the new coinage, but, of course 'No' is for the present, and very probably will change in the future. Great Britain has, so far, made no decision on whether to join the system, and will not make any decision until after a public referendum has been held thus allowing every person to vote 'for' or 'against' the new currency.
As, I suspect, in keeping with many other countries Britain's initial reaction to joining a European currency is 'No - we are not going to be the same as every other country just because Brussels has decreed it' - "we will fight them on the beaches.......etc" - it's just a case of us against them. But when 'Joe Public' has seen Euros in use all over the Continent, and been told by the Government that 'the time is right' he will eventually think - "Hey!, we don't want to be left behind" and he will join in with the others.
The last time there was a referendum in Great Britain was when Britain was considering entry into the European Economic Community (now the European Union). This resulted in Britain joining the E.E.C. in 1973. The 50 pence piece of that year depicts nine hands joined in a circle - signifying the unity of the (then) nine members.
The new currency is issued in coins for 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 Euro, and 2 Euros, and then in notes for 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 euro. This last note is a very high denomination and will rarely be seen in circulation as it equates to about £300 Sterling, or nearly US$500.
It is interesting to note that if you had one of each denomination of the Euro coins, and one of each denomination of Euro note, you would have €3.88 in coins and €885 in notes = €888.88 - Nice figure, eh!
By the 7th January 2002, we had already seen Euro coins dated 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002, with the following years being issued in due course. Add to this the fact that the euros of Germany have 5 different mint-marks, (A - Berlin, D - Munich, F - Stuttgart, G - Karsruhe and J - Hamburg) and those of Greece having 3 mint-marks and plain issues, (F - France, E - Spain & S - Finland - Greek issues have no mint-mark) that this is a phenomenally large issue of different coins plus those from San Marino, Monaco, and the Vatican. We have seen a wave of 'Pattern Euros' from Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Andorra, and many other tenuous 'states of the Union' as well as the 10 new states which joined the Union in May 2004. The new countries are: Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Malta, Cyprus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Other wait in the sidelines. Even with the issue of just the 'ordinary' circulation set for the countries above this could be 280 new coins each year. Add to this special issues, and €5 and €10 coins, and it becomes a huge collecting area.
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