Estonia ready to join the eurozone

Fri, 31 Dec 2010

Tallinn - Estonia made last minute preparations Friday for its entry into the eurozone, with officials insisting everything was going according to plan.

At the stroke of midnight, the small Baltic state with a population of 1.3 million will become the 17th member of the pan- European monetary bloc. It will also become the first former Soviet republic to do so.

Most cash machines in Estonia have been offline since Thursday as banks reprogram and refill them with fresh euro notes.

The country's largest bank, Swedbank, described the changeover process as "the biggest and most complicated project in Estonian banking history" and said that in keeping with other banks it would be extending branch opening hours over the weekend to help customers through the transition.

Riho Unt, chairman of the Estonian Banking Association said there was no need to worry about the currency switch. "People do not have any necessity to rush to the money exchanges," he said.

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip is due to make the first withdrawal of euro notes from a cash machine shortly after midnight in an act that will be broadcast live on Estonian television.

The currency which has served Estonia so well since 1992, the kroon, will continue to be accepted in shops until January 14, after which only the euro will be accepted as legal tender. However, the Estonian central bank has promised to exchange kroons for euros indefinitely.

The Estonian capital, Tallinn, will host a double celebration as the city will also become a European Capital of Culture for 2011. An unprecedented number of foreign journalists have descended on the city in what organizers describe as "the largest worldwide media interest ever seen in Estonia."

One means of marking both important events has been installed in the center of the city where a robotic cow built by Tallinn University of Technology's Center of Biorobotics and local artists is enabling members of the public to exchange kroons for euros in a novel manner.

A one-kroon coin has to be inserted into the cow's mouth. After a short delay a one-euro coin drops out of the cow's other end.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360250,estonia-ready-join-eurozone.html.