Comics Royalties/Pygmy Indians/Euro

[Kriton Kyrimis]

ROB:

> I'm quite surprised that a German is announcing we have
> unlimited time to exchange our Deutschmark und pfenning for Euro.

There are a couple of different dedalines.

The first deadline was the end of the period when the old currency was
being withdrawn, to be replaced by the new currency, with both types
of currency being in circulation.  Each country adopted a different
deadline, which had to be before, or at February 28. It was no surprise
that in Greece, where we like do things at the last moment, the deadline
was February 28.  I believe that the Germans, being a slightly more
disciplined people than Greeks, chose the earliest possible deadline,
January 1, with no interim period. From what I saw on TV, however,
there was a period when both kinds of currency were, informally, in
circulation in Germany, as well.

The second deadline is much later, again different on each country, when
the old currency will become worthless paper or metal.  This deadline
is years into the future, with the deadline for coins being shorter than
that for bank notes, but the catch is that you can only do the exchange
at your country's central bank.  When I went to the bank of Greece,
this summer, e.g., there was still a line of people waiting to exchange
their drachmas for euros, long past the February 28 deadline.

This has always been the practice in Greece (and I assume elsewhere)
whenever new coins or notes were issued: do most of the conversion within
a short period, then provide a means for those few who still have old
style money in their hands to convert at their leisure for several years
after the conversion.

	Kriton	(e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
	      	(WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis)
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"One always has choices.  Whether one chooses to see them or not is,
 in itself, its own choice."
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