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Another proud European independent currency will fall by the wayside in January, giving way to the euro (€) - the Slovenian tolar. The € will circulate alongside for two weeks beginning Jan. 1, and then the tolar will be gone, like the Deutschmark, franc, lire, guilder, etc. in 2002.
The English language Slovenian Times in this weeks edition commented about the "pride and enthusiasm" with which the introduction of the tolar was greeted after Slovenia became independent of Yugoslavia, and noted the marked lack of similar emotions about the €. They cited local polls that 65% of people here expect the introduction of the € to cause prices to go up and noted that "unjustified price increases were observed in several euro area members when the euro was being introduced in 2002".
Observing the dual prices posted here in Ljubljana and in other places I have been in Slovenia, many merchants seem to have already rounded upwards since the € price is in even numbers and the tolar price in odd numbers. If they had simply used the old tolar price and converted it to € the reverse would have been true. Many merchants have not posted dual prices, so there will certainly be more rounding up to come.
I was in Germany for the last day of the mark and the first of the € and the rounding up from one day to the next was quite obvious there.
The eastern Europe new members of the EU are required by the accession treaty to adopt the €, which the older EU countries were not. The citizens of two of the older EU countries, Sweden and Denmark, voted in referenda to keep using their national currencies and reject the €, and the polls in a third, the UK show citizens there feel overwhelmingly the same way if their promised referendum is ever held. The other eastern countries are staggered with one more conversion later this year, which if memory serves is Estonia.
Since the change to the € will mean higher prices, now is the time to visit eastern Europe before the € conversions.
The English language Slovenian Times in this weeks edition commented about the "pride and enthusiasm" with which the introduction of the tolar was greeted after Slovenia became independent of Yugoslavia, and noted the marked lack of similar emotions about the €. They cited local polls that 65% of people here expect the introduction of the € to cause prices to go up and noted that "unjustified price increases were observed in several euro area members when the euro was being introduced in 2002".
Observing the dual prices posted here in Ljubljana and in other places I have been in Slovenia, many merchants seem to have already rounded upwards since the € price is in even numbers and the tolar price in odd numbers. If they had simply used the old tolar price and converted it to € the reverse would have been true. Many merchants have not posted dual prices, so there will certainly be more rounding up to come.
I was in Germany for the last day of the mark and the first of the € and the rounding up from one day to the next was quite obvious there.
The eastern Europe new members of the EU are required by the accession treaty to adopt the €, which the older EU countries were not. The citizens of two of the older EU countries, Sweden and Denmark, voted in referenda to keep using their national currencies and reject the €, and the polls in a third, the UK show citizens there feel overwhelmingly the same way if their promised referendum is ever held. The other eastern countries are staggered with one more conversion later this year, which if memory serves is Estonia.
Since the change to the € will mean higher prices, now is the time to visit eastern Europe before the € conversions.
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