Why is introducing the Euro more complex or costly than the introduction of any other new currency?
The crucial difference is that the euro was formed by merging eleven national currencies at fixed exchange rates on 1.1.1999. They will persist in visible form (notes and coins) for three years until the final changeover on 1 January 2002. Therefore conversions between national currencies in the euro are not like normal exchange rates with variable rates; they are simply a different measurement of the same underlying entity, just like pounds and kilogrammes are different scales of measurement of weight. They have fixed six-digit conversion rates (not “exchange” rates). And because of the three-year transition period, economic entities must be able to handle both kinds of money from those they deal with.
