MANIC MONDAY LINK
The euro is the official currency of the European Union, used in 15 member states : Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. It is also used in 9 other countries around the world, 7 of those being in Europe. Hence it is the single currency for over 320 million Europeans. The Euro was introduced in all these countries on January 1, 2002, except in the United Kingdom and Denmark.
This of course was a big change for all people and especially on the psycological side. In Belgium for example for 1000 francs which sounds a lot you suddenly only had 25 € in your hand. For the Germans it was not better because they got "half" of their salary the one who earned 1000 DM had to be happy with only 500 € with the same value of course. The worst was for the Italians. They all were millionaires with their Lira and to fill in a tank you had to pay millions. Suddenly for 1000 lira they only got 50 CENTS !!
To get used to the European currency was difficult for every adult and we all needed to calculate a lot with the help of all kind of conversion tables. Even lighters had the Belgian Frank = Euro table printed on them. But the once who suffered the most and still do were the elderly people. Some of them really couldn't understand why something which was worth 1000 francs was only worth 25 €. And the Italians instead of their millions only had 10 €.
A lot of people still calculate in their old currencies. The younger once got easily used to it and now there is the new generation who never knew another currency than the Euro. Amongst all my friends and people I know I think we are 4 or 5 who only calculate in Euro and don't think about the old currency anymore. But all the others still calculate in Belgian Francs or other European former currencies. My sister in law even in Lira ! When she tells me that she had bought something for 10 thousand lira you can imagine my face ! It sounds such a lot and in reality it's only 5 € !
Euros and cents
Just a little coucou before going to give french and maths lessons to kids of the cité. I've 5 pupils. Euros, euros! I prefer thinking in euro because if I translate in francs I could have a vertigo!
ReplyDeletele seul qui a su rétablir l'équilibre c'est qui? Bling bling qui a augmenté son salaire de 175%! Au moins il n'a pas de surprise avec l'euro! Il a toujours des millions de billets lui!
Bonne journée
Spaniards got only 6 euros for 1,000 pesetas! I am surprised some bills are still issued mentioning the value in pesetas...but I have seen it in France too.
ReplyDeleteSince the introduction of the euro those small film boxes full of foreign currencies disappeared from my home!! It was always a mess to cross boarders and to look for the appropriate currency...
Ooo... you gave me a headache with all these different currency! I prefer the Euros though, it's risen so much that it's pretty expensive to travel to Europe.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Brit, we said no. I guess Euronly rich without it :-)
ReplyDeleteA three way conversion is even worse. Go from a country that doesn't use the Euro to a exchange your funds in a country that uses both their own currency but accepts euros and find something priced in euros that you are now paying for in the second currency.
ReplyDeleteBrains have been known to explode :-)
Me, too. =)
ReplyDeleteWe´ve been to the Spring fair in Dusseldorf yesterday and visited a café at the rhine thereafter. They sold delicious looking, but small sized fish baguettes for EUR 3,50. Guess what I thought...
Right! "WOAH!!! That´s DM 7,00 for such a small baguette!!! No, I don´t want to pay that much..." *grin*
Back in summer 2001, when we we´re on a vacation to the VAE I went to a bank in Dubai in order to change some of my DM to Emirati dirham. I was told they wouldn´t accept the DM anymore, but EUR. EURO??? We all had not seen a Euro so far. TG I had my credit card with me. =)
Kannst Du Dir das vorstellen? Du stehst dort in Dubai in der Bank und die Deppen wollen Banknoten von Dir, die noch gar nicht auf dem Markt sind??? Die haben mich beahndelt, als wollte ich SIE verar$chen, nach dem Motto: Jetzt versucht sie ihre ungültige Kohle bei uns zu tauschen!!!" Das werd ich bestimmt nie vergessen ;-)
All my hoomans still calculate in German Marks, especially the grand-parents. My hooman mommy does this often, too, especially when she thinks something os ridiculous expensive.
ReplyDeleteHappy MM, Miss Gattina!
As an American, I can't imagine trying to accept a new permanent currency. And I just have to wonder - why Great Britain didn't accept the Euro?
ReplyDeleteI would find it confusing too. You know, it's always the older folks that suffer the most, and that just isn't right. Have a great MM Gattina. :)
ReplyDeleteI wanted to stop by and thanks you for kind comment on my Manic Monday 1000 post.
ReplyDeleteNever read anything that talked about how the Euro effected people in Europe. Thanks Gattina!
ReplyDeleteI got to know Deutsche Mark for 7 months so my memories of the old currency is not a lot. I just remember the time I came here (May 2001) that was not even the season for watermelons and they were selling them at 80 pfennig (40 cents) per kilo in the fruit stand near our apartment. You have won a lottery if you ever get that price now - even during summer they were selling them at 1 euro a kilo!
ReplyDeleteI'd have made the Euro worth £10 so the amounts would sound absolutely tiny... I'm quite good at converting (well I think so...) I would say E25 is worth about £15; am I right? When we went to India for over a month we all started thinking in Rupees but I noticed our friend (who had been out there loads of times) calculating everything on a calculator!!
ReplyDeleteps I much prefer Euros to American dollars. Dollars are horrible. Waxy. All the same-looking. All the same size. Nasty stuff. At least Euros are pretty too. I think they're prettier than British currency
ReplyDeleteNow that's some sticker shock.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been very confusing during the change over. Do you at all use the old currency and more, or has that all been destroyed (or kept in people's personal collections!).
ReplyDeleteTake care, Meow
That's great info of your currency.
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