How's the Euro going then?
 

Not applicable to people in the UK, Denmark or Sweden :)

Well, as you may know, the whole of the European Union, with the exception of the above countries :) , ditched their own currencies today in favour of the Euro.

How's it working out then??

I just hope that we in the UK don't go in for it. :(

I dont understand why sweden didn´t get euro´s too

im sick of having to pay 10.80SEK for a dollar
i remember that a few years ago it was 7SEK.
The swedish Krona is wery sensitive to outside influense
and a change to the Euro would help to stabilize our economy

€€€€€€€€€€€
 

Yep the € is here.
Havn't got the banknotes yet but we were given some coins by the goverment to get used to them.
Seems everything is going well for 90% here. Some stores have no change tomorrow to give because some banks sold out their €€.
Still we can pay the whole month with both valuta's.
Also I have to change about 40DM (german money) in coins. |But I live near the border so I propably buy something there for the money.

Unfortunately it means some prices go up, because the storeowners like those xx.99 figures. Also the beer in the club I always go goes up with about $0.10 THE BASTARDS!!

Man, I heard crazy stuff goin on, about the currency...

Jonty,
I am ambivalent about the euro, I am all in favour of closer links with our European neighbours and indeed internationally, but I dont want to go as far as a common government or loose the Pound, we (all ) need to keep some uniqueness.
However it might just bring the prices down here ......... not. :(

G

€€€€€€€€€€€
 

I have the day off tomorrow so I will see how thinks are going at the bank and see if I get the right change back at the supermarket. Jugh I'm drilling the conversion as we speek. Hope I get used to it soon.

http://www.euro.ecb.int/en.html

€-Land
 

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Sofar everything goes rather well. Some little incidents however and 200 postoffice were closed this morning, especially small ones. Hmm I going to check things out for myself and get me some €€ at the bank.

Hmm takes long at small shops to buy things. I was paying with the old currency and got €uros as change. This meant the guy had to convert the money I paid and give the right change in €€ back.
At the bank there was a line about 20 people, but changing the old currency stil can be done until April. about half the cash machines were emptied but its still possible to get money. So I think things will be normal soon.

The United States of Europe is a fact now! :D :D :D

Question: Why doesnt the whole world go to one thing?
Is it because of the econamy is to different? or the goverment?

One problem is that the economy is differant per country. If a financial unstable countries like the ones in Eastern Europe would join the value of the € will drop. One world economy is an utopia like global peace.

As for now the € is $0.90 (it was $0.89 12-31-01).

Hey Dutch,
it took me only 2 deals in €uro, to get back the first dutch coins:D (coins have national symbols on one side)

At least it seams to work:), I got rid of all my DM already on Monday, still have some french Francs around.

Happy New Year all together:)

I agree with Graham on this, we should be keeping links with our European neighbours but not start messing about with fundamantal things like government, parliament, laws, money etc., our countries are all different in their own ways and we should keep these differences.

If I was from the UK, I'd adamantly oppose the Euro. Even "just" for traditional reasons......heck, it's your countries OWN unique currency, been around since the beginning. Why should you? What's the point? I can see the point, I suppose, for the tons of smaller nations in mainland Europe - easier trade, etc. If I was in charge in the UK, I'd say screw 'em:D. Everyone else already changed, making it much easier for 'us' (the UK).....it'd be like America trading with Canada or Mexico, no big deal, only a couple currencies, not a dozen.

Just IMO:)

Warthog

Actually the current pound & pence system hasn't been around for that long.

I agree that forging links with Europe is a good idea, with all our cultures & languages we could be the biggest melting pot in the world if only we could all melt a little bit :)

My only real problem with the euro is that some things would become stupid prices here in the UK & it would make the price of stuff harder to work out for a bit, & yes I am very lazy :).

Also we would be more dependant on European politics, but IMHO it is better than being left out on our own + our politicians generally don't know their a$$ from their elbow.

Regards

Eddy

No comment:D

One World Goverment....I think not!!!! But it will happen some day. :(

What's the point in european union anyways? So far it has done nothing good...

I remember a while ago there was a debate whether we could call one of our foods what we called it...

Little things... So I suppose there's no real point in the union but to take actions against some meaningless s??t.

I don't see the trouble though, what's the difference with what you pay your food with? € or FIM.

Well... Soon we'll all have little circles in our flags and stuff like that :)

I only hope the people elected there know what they're doing, better than me.

My wife curses € to h?ll... It's easy for us anyways.. Just multiple everything you buy by 6 and there you go :)
Actually, probably the reason it doesn't matter to me is that I don't have cash, nor a bank card. I only deal with money when I fill up the gas tank of my car ;)
-M

The concept od the European Union looks allot like the USA.
With its own currency, the € almost the same as $, own state (country) laws beside common laws, open borders.

Again we created the United States of Europe :p

'Fraid so...

And as for the one world economy, I'm not so sure it'll be a "utopia"... If one small country's economy goes down, so do the rest...

Our new flag:
:D :D

That looks a lot like the Greek flag, so we would rule them all, hehehe :D.

Greece had to give up one of the oldest currencies in the world ro get in, the Drachma, but you know what they say...
:)

-HawkEye-

KOOL flag DUTCH. :rolleyes: (please dont send that to any politicians)

I have seen the lines at the banks here in germany. They extend out the door. Just to exchange currency from old to new.

BTW all the ATM or Geld automisches in the area are out of euro apperently the banks did not plan for all the withdraws that would be done after the new year.(thats a 100 plus k radius from where I live.


RYO
:) :)

Hehe yeah well still lines here at the bank but I don't see the hurry. There is enough time to change it. The small banknotes (under 50€) are "sold out" here, so shops and supermarkets have trouble with change since they are the only one with small notes at the moment, but for how long...

heej Haweye the € is more greek than you think:

My € 0.02
 

I think any European who opposes the Euro and the EU hasn't quite grasped the idea nor the benefits for all the member states.

Our Union and our new currency are still in their infancy, the benefits that can be reaped will come in the future; we are now in the process of building the foundation. Hence there are no immediate signs, but they will come.

Together we will boost our economies and productivity, we will raise our standards of living even more and we will be able to take a much larger piece of the global cake.

The Shilling has been the currency in Austria for 77 years, at the rate we (Austrians) are converting it will be history in 2 weeks. Stick to it out of tradition? What benefit is that to me when I have the choice of using a stronger currency?

Not to join the EU and remain a little weak island? What benefit is that to me when I can join a Union and become stronger and more productive and wealthier?

We will be able to compete with any nation in the world.

Come on fellow Europeans, look to the future.

And frankly I think the UK will embrace the Euro sooner or later, I dare say it would be the logical step ;)

Ok not being an European what scares me is that Germany and the wealther states in the Union are still going to profit most in this colaboration.

Here is the thought. The union is going to cap the growth of the wealther countries. These countries are going to need to help the ones that are not as well off. They do this by setting up factories, firms and other neccessary infrastructure that a mordern country needs. Now heres the pay off. YOU just built your neighbor a house which cost you 20$. Right now he cant pay you for the house but he can pay rent.(3 dollars per year) In ten years he can afford to buy the house but now you sell for 40$. An investment of 20 has brought you a reward of 50. Now there is not a bank in the world that has that kind of intrest but businesses can. Or better yet you hold the house and make it an investment for the future. Any whoo the point here is that IMO the strong EU countries will stay ahead of the weaker. And at some point the exploitation will turn to up heaval and then POW WWIII.

but really I hope it all works out!:)

RYO

Of course there are positive and negative sides to this, like everything in life.

But these are no reasons not to join or take part in the Union.

In fact, I think it would be futile for a country not to join the EU now, because if it decides to remain by itself it will have to compete with this block in the future.

I agree with you that there will be disadvantages for some, but I think it will benefit Europe and the Europeans as a whole.

Yep I think it will benefit all countries, since it stables the economy in all these countries. As for the "poor neighbour", he has a place to stay for the moment until he finds a job and has enough money to build his own house. And I don't think "the landlord" will be the only one who benifits, since he is risking his investment.

There are enough economy unstable countries that want to join like Turkey, Poland, Hungary. They have to pass a test to join. Simply said if your country is rich enough you can join.

Also the EU protects us for a WW3 more than it will create one.
Remember all countries are allies with the USA.

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The comment about WWIII was a far look into the furture. Definately miss spoken at this time Sorry:(

My example was crude so let me explian. Take a well to do country like Austria. Not a power house but stronger than most. Now to help out the EU the convince one of its tech companies to set up in say Chzech. The company buys the land and builds the factory. Czech provides the cheap labor force and the company gets the profits which it invests in Austria. Keeping Austria on top. This becomes even more scarry when you add germany and BMW into the scenerio:(

RYO:)

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The EU has the potential to allow far greater diversity of cultures in Europe. Regions that could not exist on their own could be made viable in a proper EU. If we look around europe at the moment we see that rather than diluting national identity we actualy have in many ways an increasing number of peoples who want to be counted as different from, if not entirly seperate from their 'mother' countries. The UK has devolved to four regions, We have the basques, corsicans, northern Italy. We have to remember that nation states are really quite an new concept in world history.

You could argue that there are too many individual states at the moment in the world and that the EU is a movement back to the time when we have a smaller number of empires. Making things simplier on an international level, if not internaly with in the EU.

The EU is not going to split up with a bang. Everybody has far too much to gain from it. Stability is the main thing. Also as Europe is home to many of the former world superpowers it will allow again for European powers to combine their strenghts and regain somewhat of what they once had. European may hold some of the bigger powers but no-one can argue that any european country is a major-power or even close. Ireland has gained increadibly from the EU. We have had the fastest growing economy in Europe for somthing like 8 years.

The Euro is going well here. Funnily enough there has been a drop in withdrawls from banks but a huge increase in cash sales. I think people have been empting the stashes the tax man knew very little about. You can only convert up to £500 to Euro (Aprox 395 euro) in the banks. I would say that by the time the weekend is over that most of the irish money will have been withdrawn. I can say that I do not have a penny of it left.
We also had the slight problem that we had the only currency where the base unit was worth more that the euro. 1 euro worth aprox 0.789 Irish Pounds (i think) not exactly sure what the pound shops will do with themselves now

Griobhta

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Yes that was exactely what I meant. As for those countries I think they will succeed to keep up with the demands. As they are working hard to get up there.

ryogenetic You forget that although the Austrian company would benifit from it, so does the local "cheap" labour. Those workers would have more to spend, otherwise they would be unemployed or earn less. Which means the local economy goes up.

I am big on "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." its a sad thruth, so any way I would not say that Germany or BMW scares me I have a German wife (whom I love dearly)and I own two bimmers one that I drive to work daily. BMW was the only congolomerate I could think of.

BTW griobhta good points. There are several points of contention. The fact remains that there are countries that have considerable power over the others. This will surface in the comming years. Key indicators will be the admitance of new EU members and how Europe comes together as a whole. That is to include England and the Balkan states as well as former eastern block nations.

It is less to the generation in power at present than the next generation. And they will exploit all the differneces of the nations to the extreme of racism. Have no doubt that of all the germans I have met there is a underlying hatred to Non Germans(particulary former eastern block nations). This ugly face is not just here in germany it spreads deep in europe and will get worse with each succesive generation. True nation states are a new idea in comparison to world history, but there is an example 226 year old example of how one operates. I just dont see that the EU based on european history has a chance. All I have the ability to see is factioning until like I said POW. If not on one front on another. :)

RYO

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DUTCH:
Yes they would be employed but they are not advancing as fast as they could be if they owned the company and took the profits to invest in the country. It would help on a whole if the profits were re invested in country. In stead of just the wages being used in a region.:)

Club_med:
It is a really really grim outlook.:( On a day to day basis I am a pretty optimistic person but when it comes to world politics I am a pessimist. Have no doubt that my almamata the USA has its faults and has failed in the past as well so please dont label me a EU hater I am not. :)

RYO

Yep it would be better if the countries would have their own BMW or kind. But they will gain from it.

I am not that pessimistic though. But I know what you mean by "Have no doubt that of all the germans I have met there is a underlying hatred to Non Germans(particulary former eastern block nations)" but I don't see the point what this has to do with the EU. The hatred was there after the Wall fell in 1989. Germany had to invest in former DDR (east-germany) This meant that the West-Germans felt like they had to work for them.
The Dutch have the same hatred against Germans since WW2 but its getting lesser and lesser each generation. On the other hand the Germans don't hate us Dutch. In their eyes we are not the one "stealing" money out of their pockets like they think the East-Europeans do.

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DUTCH:
Have you seen TV TOTAL w/Stephen Raab? I think the praise he uses is "Holland ist nicht dabei" -> "Holland is not in" now this is in humor but it has become common place.

BTW having a country next door where you can go "SMOKE" and have a "CUP of COFFEE" certianly would keep me happy to hold up good relation.:)

Also the resentment is not for East Germans than Auslanders Czechi and Ungarn. This resentment is not held over from WWII but the fact that germany is importing pretrained qualified personell to fill positions in a gammet of fields.

RYO

I don't watch that much RTL but I know the guy. I guess we earned it. We always think we will win the cup, we and the players are overconfident and therefor lost the game. We lost against the Irish last year which should be won easely. Well griobhta knows all about it;)
I am not that big football (soccer) enthousiast so it doesn't worry me.

Owh that's why those Germans are so friendly to me:D

I must say I can see ryogenetic's point, Europe has shown for centuries that it has many factions. Take Yugoslavia, the various ethnic groups held together in a tense relationsip by Tito, and look what happened after his death.
The union of the states that now constitutes the USA was a very bloody affair, and the ideas, beliefs, and ideals were nowhere near as diparate as those in Europe. Evidently in the case of the US the struggle was worth it, the US is now the undisputed world leader in many fields, but that is no guarantee of similar good luck here.
As I said previously, I am very much in favour of strong links with Europe and I am, in principal , in favour of the EU as it satnds, although I am less pleased with some ( a lot ) of the beurocracy and the money wasted on it.
I see no reason why we in the UK and the other "dissident" member states cannot be deeply involved with the community whilst keeping their currency. All this economic integration has been driven by Germany and France (historically two very strange bedfellows), and each has something different to gain from it. Other nations may not be as lucky, there will always be underdogs, as I am sure some states in the US are considered, and probably those members of the EU who choose not to "euro" will be seen. There are still many "poorer" countries waiting to join.

Just as an aside, I believe that the UK was the only country whose economy actually met the criteria set for economic union !

G

Well said Graham, my sentiments entirely.

I find it strange that France has agreed to the Euro, generally they do as they please regardless of any Euro law. It must have been in their interest to take the Euro up.

Does the US waste as much money as the EU subsidising stuff like farming, fishing etc??

Worth it?? I am not sure about that. There are far too many problems that the US still has fix. And the fact that we are expected to be leaders is an add toll. The fact that the world looks to us places a burden that would do better at home in the back yard. If it were feasible IMO the US should revert to Isolationism. Until a point where 1. The world does not look to us for support. 2. We have brought the US to a better level of understanding and well being. Trust me I am still for the info sharing and commerce. But I see no reason for being a UN or Nato police adgency:)

RYO

ryogenetic,
I understand your point, however it is up to those who can to do.
Those that "do" will always be complained about by those who "cant" or "wont".

Sorry if that is a little tortured, but I hope you get the gist,

Noblesse Oblige

If the world does need a police force or a nurse or a canteen, then it falls to those who have the capability to supply the service, or should we would allow people to die from riot, diease, or starvation?

As civilised nations could we live with ourselves if we didnt try to help?

G

Now I have paid all my groceries with Dutch Guilders and I still have F9,- left. Hmm I have to calculate in the shop so I can dump the last ones (got a conversioncalculator in my phone;)). Luckely everything is still double priced. Hmm F9,- = €4.08

Ohyeah have to get used not using the , anymore in figures. Thats typically Dutch, like we say F100.000,00 instead of F100,000.00

Sometimes I think that would be best too ryo. This of course is because I am from the US myself and of course you know that a gain in one system usually means a loss in another so it seems to me that as this eur grows stronger and the quality of life increases overseas then it seems reasonable to think that not only will the US loose its world power in time but the quality of life for most Americans would also suffer. However when you think about it this cannot be avoided in any circumstance as I see it also I wouldnt be complaining if it benefited me only when it didnt (which it doesnt). And who can disagree with everyones quality of life being better even if it means some have to sacrifice the way they live. (I of course talk about the common person as it seems those with wealth will adapt quite nicely to any environment where profit is to be gained)

Also someone mentioned that it was up to the countries that can to help those that cant. This is a wonderful concept by itself however it seems a bit like the way the nobles handled chivalry (spelling?) it was a fine thing to follow those rules when it cost you nothing but should your pocket be affected or wealth to be gained well that was another matter entirely. It seems this is more to do with money (literally:D )