The countdown has reached its final phase. In less than thirty days, eleven European countries will join their monetary politics to create a new currency. It will be valid in an economic area with a population exceeding that of the US. These countries are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.
The euro-start in January, however, does not mean that from this day on all citizens and all tourists in the named countries will need to have the new currency in hand to pay for their newspaper or their cup of coffee. Old currencies will remain in circulation for about three years. Only by the year 2002 should the new valuta be completely phased in.
In Europe, a continent slowed down for centuries by too many borders and customs duties to be paid in dozens of different currencies, the importance of this step has no need of explanation. In the dollar area, however, only a few experts seem to have plainly understood the meaning of this process. Kimberly Haley-Coleman therefore proposes to "think of it this way: the new euro is headed toward becoming a serious threat to the dollar as the predominant global currency." At the moment, she explains on the Internet magazine Wall Street City, the dollar is still strengthened by its widespread use in international payments and as reserve currency. Up to now the Americans took this for granted, but what happens, asks Haley-Coleman, if this should ever change, if the dollar should loose at least a part of its "market share"?
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