Euro coins go on sale

Europe can get its hands on the euro ahead of its official introduction

LONDON, England -- The euro coin has gone on sale in banks in Europe on Friday despite not becoming legal tender until January 1.

The so-called starter kits will be sold by banks so people will get a chance to see what the euro coin looks like.

Notes, which have been distributed to banks during the past few months, will not be available until January 2002.

The release of the coins comes at the same time as the European Commission released a survey which shows that 61 percent of people support the euro in all the European Union 15 member states except Britain, Denmark and Sweden.

Britain and Denmark have yet to sign up to the euro -- Britain says it will hold a referendum on the issue only when five sets of economic criteria have been met, while the Danes have voted 'no' in a referendum already.

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British opposition to the currency was 58 percent, the survey found. Local political groups opposed to the euro say the figure is higher, at two-thirds of the population.

Russell Walters, spokesman for the Democracy Movement, said he was confident the 'no' vote would win any referendum in Britain.

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He added: "(The euro) is not going to bring prosperity and it's part of a political project the British people don't want."

The currency is already causing concern over the danger of counterfeiting by both amateurs and professionals.

Willy Bruggeman, deputy director of the police agency Europol, and the head of its euro project, said amateurs would hope to take advantage of the confusion in the early period of its introduction.

"We expect that we will see some amateurs try to test the system," he said.

Crude counterfeits have already appeared in small quantities in attempts to con people into exchanging money for them ahead of time.

But it is the professionals who pose the greatest danger in the long-term with their use of bulky offest printing presses which produces high quality copies.

European Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg said he was confident security measures incorporated into the design of the new euros should protect consumers.

"Citizens can be confident that the euro is a safe currency and one which few residents will have the misfortune ever to see a counterfeit of."

An eight-hour strike by French central bank and postal workers had little effect on the sale of euro coins, officials said on Friday.

France's preparations for the introduction of the euro from January 1 have been dogged by industrial action at the country's only euro coin mint and prompted the government to take the unusual step of ordering coins from euro zone partner Spain.

Finance Minister Laurent Fabius announced on Friday, after buying his own euro starter kit, that France would source 100 million 50-cent coins from Spain "just in case" of shortages.

Trade unions, Bank of France and Post Office officials agreed that Friday's strikes had hardly affected sales of the bags of 40 euro coins.

But France's full launch of the euro on January 1 is more seriously threatened as postal unions called for a national strike on January 2.

Banking sector trade unions have already called for a national strike that day over pay and security arrangements for the euro's introduction, raising the risk of national chaos on the first banking day after its launch.