Its me again, getting rather excited now that we are almost on our way, minus the troublesome wisdom tooth! Just remembered that I have quite a few Euro coins left over from my last visit to Spain about three years ago. Although they are marked as euros they read Espana on the reverse of the coins. Can I use these in Rome? Bit of a stupid question but I have got used to using the dollar in USA and its some time since I was in Europe. I'm sure that you can advise me and I will let you all know of my travels in Rome. Arrivederci
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Amy,
Posts: 15 | Location: Rye | Registered: 23 November 2007
Well, nearly! There are a few countries, including my own, which are members of the EU, but don't use the Euro. A useful map, and complete listing, in this Wikipedia article. And amongst frequently visited countries, it's worth remembering that Switzerland is neither part of the EU, nor does it use the Euro.
Jonathan
Posts: 2919 | Location: Stroud, UK | Registered: 18 November 2001
Well, nearly! There are a few countries, including my own, which are members of the EU, but don't use the Euro. A useful map, and complete listing, in this Wikipedia article. And amongst frequently visited countries, it's worth remembering that Switzerland is neither part of the EU, nor does it use the Euro.
Jonathan
Right, Jonathan. The correct statement would be "they are legal tender throughout the EMU states",that is, the EU states that have joined the European Monetary Union.
BTW, as a curiosity, the Euro is the only legal tender even in the newly independent states of Montenegro and Kosovo, although they are not part of the EU.
There is also a bunch of other states where their currency has a fixed exchange rate with the Euro, and thus the latter is widely accepted as a substitute. Examples: Bulgaria, Estonia, Bosnia and so on.
Switzerland also widely accepts euros (but you'll be given change in Swiss Francs!!).
To confirm what previous posters wrote, even if differently put: euros from different countries are accepted in every other country using Euros. If you pay attention you'll see that you'll receive a certain number of "foreign" euros while in Rome.
Each member of the European Union that has adopted the Euro has its own version of coinage. One side of all the coins is identical, regardless of country or origin, and one side is unique to the country of origin.
Also the bills come from different places - not all the euro states print the complete range of bills, some do not print bills at all and use bills printed in other states. All bills are identical no matter when they come from, but serial numbers hints to the place where they were issued (see this).
Trying to identify where your coins and bills come from is a nice game. In this very moment in my purse I have Finnish, German, French, Italian bills, plus a pack of Greek bills I was given this morning by an ATM machine in Florence. My coins come from Spain, Austria, Germany, Slovenia (I visited all of them in the last weeks) plus France, Italy, Ireland and Greece.
Just think of it this way: if each and every state in the US had its own mint, then you could have coins that come from each and every state, all sporting the same marks on one side but on the reverse each state could use a different symbol or set of symbols or allegories. Still they would be dollars and, since the value of the dollar as a whole is established by the market and granted by the Fed, they would still all have the same value.
