Distribution of euro begins

A delivery of euro notes arrives at a bank in Germany

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Shipments of new euro notes and coins have begun in parts of Europe under armed protection.

A scheduled 14 billion banknotes and 50 billion coins will be distributed to the 12 countries which have signed up to the euro before the currency becomes official tender on January 1, 2002.

Troops and armoured vehicles were used in Belgium and Germany to help the movement of coins from central banks to commercial banks on Saturday.

About 450 tonnes of coins are expected to leave Belgian vaults within 24 hours bound for a number of warehouses in the country.

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They will then be sent to bank branches and shops. Belgium is expected to distribute 5,000 tonnes of new euro coins between September and January. Notes will be sent out on November 1.

Dirk Beurms, spokesman for Belgium's largest bank Fortis, said: "It's a big operation. But starting on September 1 gives us enough time to deliver euros to all agencies and everywhere else necessary."

Some football matches have been cancelled in November and December so police can be diverted to help in the movement of the euro.

Germany's first truck, accompanied by armoured cars, set off from a storage point in Hanover before arriving at an interim storage point. Many German states are to start moving the notes on Monday.

About 2,000 armoured cars are to move 58 billion euros, including 70,000 tonnes of coins.

Details of the currency's movement are not being fully divulged for security reasons.

France also plans to begin its movement of the euro early, but smaller countries will delay the transport until the last possible moment in an attempt to minimise the risk.

Ireland has been particularly guarded about how it plans to transport four billion cash euros ($3.7 billion).

European Central Bank officials are most worried about forging euro notes.

It has taken two years for the notes and coins to be printed and minted in the run-up to a $73 million publicity campaign targeted at the 300 million people who will use the currency.

National currencies will be phased out over the first six months of 2002, but the ECB says most cash transactions are expected to be done in euros by January 15 as the currency begins to flow through the cash machines.

ECB President Wim Duisenberg said on Thursday, at the official launch of the currency: "In 100 days time the euro will be in our pockets, it will be our money -- a tangible reality and not just the virtual market currency that it has thus far been perceived to be by many, if not most, Europeans.

Converting vending machines is proving a huge operation

"The euro is much more than just a currency. It is a symbol of European integration in every sense of the word."

The seven different denominations of banknote will be used among 12 member states of the European Union -- Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Holland, Portugal and Spain.

Two months later, on March 1, traditional currencies such as the franc, the mark, the lire and the peseta will cease to be legal tender and be abolished.

The new notes depict bridges, windows and buildings rather than faces.