The Euro
Question: In what countries would you use the following currencies?
The Austrian schilling
The Belgian franc
The Finnish markka
The French franc
The German mark
The Greek Drachma
The Irish punt
The Italian lira
The Luxembourg franc
The Dutch gilder
The Portuguese escudo
The Spanish peseta
Answer: None.
The reason being, none of these currencies exist anymore.
In January 2002, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain all replaced their own currencies with the Euro.
The Euro is the single currency of the European Union (E.U.). There are fifteen countries that make up the European Union in total, the twelve that are mentioned above, along with Great Britain, Sweden and Denmark. These three countries have all decided to stay out of the single currency for the time being.
The main reason why the European Union exists is to turn 15 relatively small economies into one, large and unified economy. This would then lead to greater wealth for the countries that are involved. Or so the theory goes.
There are seven denominations of the Euro notes. These are the 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 Euros. In addition to these, there are also eight coins. These are the 1 and 2 euros, and the 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents.
These notes and coins can be used anywhere in the Euro area, and there is no longer a need to carry several different kinds of currency with you. When you return home, you can either hold on to any unused euros until you next go travelling, exchange them at a bank for pounds sterling, or even use them in certain shops in the U.K.
Whether the U.K. will adopt the Euro as its main currency, is yet to be decided. However, the government has set five economic tests, which it says must be met before it recommends UK entry into the euro and calls a referendum.
The results of these tests were announced on 9th June this year, and only one had been achieved. So for now, at least, we keep the Pound!
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