Dutch guilder now a spent force

The euro is now the only currency that is legal tender in The Netherlands

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The official currency of The Netherlands -- the guilder -- has formally ceased to exist as spendable cash after 776 years.

The guilder is the first of 12 European currencies to completely disappear as a result of the introduction of the euro on January 1.

"We have become a little less Dutch, and more European, but that happened on January 1," Korstiaan Nederveen, a shopper, told the Associated Press, on Sunday.

"The last day of the guilder doesn't mean anything to me."

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Since the start of the year the euro and national currencies have been running in tandem but the Dutch are the first to formally phase out their currency completely. The guilder's last day in official circulation was Sunday.

Other currencies, including the lire, franc, mark and peseta, will disappear in coming weeks.

Ireland's currency becomes redundant on February 9, with France following on February 17.

The entire changeover in the eurozone will be completed by February 28.

Old guilders can still be traded in at banks until April 1 at no cost, but after that people will have to pay commission or go to the central bank to buy euros with their guilders. They have 30 years to do so.

"It all passed very smoothly," said Jeroen Sprenger, a spokesman for the Dutch Finance Ministry.

"We had about 65 emergency scenarios, but we didn't have to use any of them."

"The Dutch consumer is rather pragmatic. They were not really waiting for the arrival of the euro, but if it had to happen, it just had to happen," said Sicco Louw, a spokesman for the Dutch Consumer Association.

The treaty paving the way for the euro was signed in the Dutch town of Maastricht in 1992.

To hasten the integration of the new coinage, some public companies began rejecting guilders in the first week, like the public transportation system in the capital, Amsterdam.

Sprenger attributed the smooth transition to thorough preparation, saying 4.5 billion euros ($3.9 billion) were invested by the government and private companies to adjust computer systems, train employees and run an extensive information campaign for the consumer.