By Susanna Ray
Herald Writer
DSSELDORF, Germany — As truckloads of newly minted and printed euro coins and bills start rolling through European Union countries toward bank vaults today, even panhandlers here are using the massive money changeover to their advantage.
"Don’t you want to get rid of your change before the euro comes?" a man holding an upturned cap regularly asks passersby a few blocks from the Rhine River in Dsseldorf’s historic district.
That’s the same question banks have been asking as they try to get people to turn in the contents of their piggy banks so the old coins can be melted down and used for new euros.
In just four months, at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, the currencies of 12 European Union countries will officially become obsolete and be replaced by the euro. It’s a historic occasion and a logistical behemoth, as well as an elephant in the living room that many Europeans are set on ignoring, particularly in Germany.
Whereas 80 percent of Italians say they’re looking forward to trading their lira for the euro, 56 percent of Germans say they’re still skeptical about the whole thing, said Eberhard Heinke, president of Germany’s largest regional central bank, the Landeszentralbank in North Rhine-Westphalia.
"What’s important for the Germans is the German mark’s identity after the war," Heinke said. "The grandmas and grandpas that lived during the war, it pains them the most (to lose it)."
The German mark rose from the country’s ashes after World War II to rule the European currency world for 50 years, Heinke said, so it’s a matter of national pride. But he thinks that once Germans have the actual euro in their hands, their negative feelings toward it will change.
Banks will receive the new euros today, but they’re not allowed to distribute them to customers until Jan. 1, with the exception of small starter kits of 10 euros (a little less than $10) available after Dec. 17 that are meant to allow people to buy their morning "brtchen," or rolls, and other necessities on New Year’s Day before banks open for business.
Most people won’t have huge stashes of cash to exchange, but their account balances will automatically be converted into euros as of 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, and they’ll get euros out of the ATMs after that time, too.
Europeans got their first look at the bona-fide euro Thursday, when the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank unveiled the seven new bills, including security features such as holograms and water marks. Previously, the public had only been allowed to see which pictures would appear on the bills (colorful depictions of neutral architecture such as bridges and archways), in order to stem counterfeit attempts.
Besides the new look to their money, Europeans have other fears about the euro. Consumers worry businesses will use the switch to hike prices. Banks and business associations have promised not to do so, but there’s no legal framework to keep it from happening.
Herbert Jacobi, an American with a long involvement in German banking, said consumer fears are likely unfounded.
"It’ll be disruptive, and inconvenient, and there will be some emotional distress, but operationally, I don’t think it will be the disaster that some people think it will be," Jacobi said.
But he is worried that the introduction of the euro is putting the cart before the horse, because "the European Union is far from being a political entity."
Heinke, the German banker, said that’s what makes the euro all the more important.
"The euro will bring the countries together," he said.
Herald reporter Susanna Ray is working in Dsseldorf, Germany, on an Arthur F. Burns Fellowship for promoting cross-cultural ties between German and U.S. journalists. She can be reached at ray@heraldnet.com.
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