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 January 1, 1999 |
Tiny states also affected by use of euro
Europe's economic new era begins
MONEY & BUSINESS: More business news
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A switch to the euro affects a handful of places -- including Monaco, the Vatican, and a pair of tiny islands off the coast of Canada -- that deal in currencies eventually to be replaced.
The Vatican and the Republic of San Marino are microstates located wholly within Italy and use the Italian lira as their currency.
Monaco, a tiny principality on France's Mediterranean coast, uses the franc. So do the French territories of St. Pierre and Miquelon, off Newfoundland, and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.
Italy and France have adopted the euro, as the European Union's new single currency is known. That left these various places, none of them EU members, in an uncertain situation.
EU finance ministers have decided they can use the single European currency under certain conditions.
San Marino, the Vatican and Monaco will be entitled to use the euro as their official currency. But they must agree to adopt EU currency rules and cooperate closely on measures to curb counterfeiting.
With regard to the French territories off Newfoundland and the coast of Madagascar, the ministers decided they will adopt the euro and that France will continue to grant legal status to their banknotes and coins. France will be required to pass national legislation putting those monetary arrangements into law.
©1998 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.