Euro crosses first serious hurdle

FRANKFURT, Germany (CNN) -- Europe's new single currency has survived its first working day despite two strikes, three robberies and some confusion.

Despite some shortages of new euro cash among stores and customers alike, the worst fears of endless queues and angry scenes at cash registers were mostly unfounded.

"It hasn't been too bad," Veronique Patte, manager of the Franprix grocery store near the Champs-Elysees in Paris, told The Associated Press. "Customers understand that it isn't easy. It could be a lot worse."

Even currency traders were impressed by what Spain's El Pais daily called the "watchmaker's precision" of the rollout of the new money, sending the euro up nearly 2 percent by late afternoon to above 90 U.S. cents.

VIDEO CNN's Richard Quest reports people in Frankfurt, Germany, are slowly but surely adapting to using the new Euro currency (January 1) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES • Europe's leaders hail new currency  • U.S. execs sceptical     IN-DEPTH • Ready or not How the single currency will affect you • On the Scene  Reports from correspondents around Europe    QUICKVOTE Now it's here, do you feel happy with the euro? Yes No View Results

Banking strikes in France and Italy and bank robberies in Greece and Ireland were said to be causing little major disruption, but there were teething problems.

Early morning travellers faced some delays due to the unfamiliarity of the new coinage being used by more than 300 million citizens in the 12 eurozone countries.

Long tailbacks were reported at motorway toll gates around Rome and outside Paris as motorists returning from their New Year break struggled with change.

In Milan, Italy, CNN's Diana Muriel said only a third of cash dispensers were offering euros, with an early shortage of the new currency because of the notes being snapped up by tourists as souvenirs.

In Frankfurt, Germany, shopkeepers reported the majority of customers were still unloading their old currency.

"Most people are paying in German marks, but ... it's only the first day," Mehmed Tasar, serving croissants and sandwiches to morning commuters in Frankfurt, told AP. "In another week there won't be any German marks here any more."

In central Rome, customers were paying in lire only at a pharmacy on Via Gambero, forcing the staff to convert back from euro prices.

"It's a bit chaotic," pharmacist Roberta Panocchi, told AP as she punched in the euro price for a tube of toothpaste into the register, then figured out the lira price for her customer, Valentina Monaco.

"These are the first days," Monaco said apologetically. "We're not used to it."

The lira, mark, guilder and nine other currencies will be phased out by the end of February but the EU's executive, the European Commission, forecasts that more than half of all transactions in the euro area will be taking place in the new money by the end of this week.

"We are very happy with the way things are going but of course we will remain vigilant," said Jan Smets, in charge of the changeover at the Belgian National Bank.

A gunman in an Athens suburb was among the first to cash in, bagging 100,000 day-old euros as well as 1.5 million drachmas (worth 4,402 euros) when he held up a Post Office Savings Bank on Wednesday.

Ireland also suffered its first two robberies involving the euro on Wednesday, as raiders struck at a rural bank and automated teller machine.

WHAT THEY SAID I think they're quite beautiful. photographer Kris Kushulck in Brussels They're smaller and less bright. I thought they'd be garish. William Dukelow, comparing euro notes to Belgian francs It's just how it is, nothing special. Go and shop, money is all the same. Sandra Meier in Frankfurt It doesn't look real. It's small, isn't it? It's a funny colour. It doesn't smell like money. Irish tourist Kieran O'Brien in Amsterdam God how ugly! They look so cold metallic, boring and soulless. Michela Moccia in Rome Now that I have the money in my hand, I have the feeling of connection -- as if we share the same language. Thekla Bauer in Frankfurt Our pound was always insignificant, irrelevant, unrecognized in the world. This right here puts us on the map. Gerry Duggan in Dublin Sources: AP, Reuters

Police said three raiders, two of them armed with a hammer and a knife, threatened staff at a branch of Allied Irish Banks before grabbing about 2,000 euros ($1,800) from a till and escaping in a waiting car.

Nobody was reported hurt in that raid in the village of Borrisokane, 90 miles (145 kms) southwest of Dublin.

But two security guards were beaten up when they tried to stop another gang from cleaning out an ATM just after midnight in the Castletroy suburb of Limerick, southwest Ireland. Police did not disclose the amount of euros stolen. The machine had been stocked with the new currency only hours before.

Earlier European newspapers hailed a remarkably smooth start to the biggest monetary switch in history, which on its first day, New Year's Day, defied forecasts of chaos.

"Euro without a hitch," declared France's Liberation daily on its front page. "The euro survives its baptism of fire," agreed business daily Les Echos.

Germany's mass circulation Bild, once a standard bearer for the Deutschemark, said: "We are sharing this feeling of a euro birth with 300 million Europeans. Forget yesterday. Look bravely to tomorrow. Let's all start afresh!"

Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad said: "The smooth introduction of the new currency in 12 of the 15 EU countries is not only a technical and logistical achievement, but is principally a historic milestone in the war- and conflict-stained history of the old continent."

While Italian newspapers greeted the arrival of euro notes and coins with enthusiasm, government ministers did their best to deflate the party atmosphere.

"Personally, I couldn't care less about the euro and I don't think it means anything to anybody else either," said Reforms Minister Umberto Bossi, leader of the right-wing Northern League.

Most shops and businesses had been closed on "e-day" itself, so people from the Arctic to the Mediterranean only got their first real chance to try out the new money on Wednesday.

Commercial bank workers in France and central bank staff in Italy were staging one-day strikes on Wednesday but officials forecast little disruption to the euro rollout.

Fifty billion coins and 14.5 billion bank notes -- totaling $568 billion -- became legal tender amid a fanfare of celebrations across Europe at midnight on New Year's Eve.

CNN's European political correspondent Robin Oakley said the conversion to the euro did see prices being rounded up rather than down, but said the political significance of the move was shown by the politicians who turned out to celebrate the euro's launch.

"It is undoubtedly the biggest integratory move in the history of the European Union," he said.

The euro is now legal tender in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Former currencies, such as the drachma, peseta, franc and lire, will continue to be legal tender in the eurozone countries until the end of February, when the euro becomes the sole currency.

Three European Union countries -- the UK, Sweden and Denmark -- have yet to sign on to the euro and are retaining their own currencies.

The euro was introduced in 1999 when national currencies were pegged to it at fixed rates and ceased to be traded independently on currency markets. Since then, marks, francs, guilders and lire have essentially been local versions of the euro.

Bank balances, stock prices and companies earnings reports, among many other things, were already spelled out in euros. But the psychologically important moment for most people was being able to hold a euro in their hand.

Most of the eurozone's 170,000 cash machines should now dispense only euros. Major shops will be giving change only in euros, under agreements between governments and major retail groups.

If everything goes according to plan, these measures will remove most of the old cash from the economy within two weeks, although it can still be used for up to two months depending on the country.

National central banks will exchange the old money for years but the ECB predicts most transactions will be all in euros by January 15.