The Euro is now flaunting its roots on the Caribbean islands

Caracas._ As the Euro has become Europe’s currency for the 21st century, France’s overseas territories in the Caribbean –like Guadeloupe and St. Martin- and Dutch-owned Aruba, Curazao, Bonaire and St. Marteen, have also become exclusive circulation areas for the newly-come Euro.

In this sense, travelers moving to these islands must scrap the old habit of buying Dutch florins and French francs for tourism purposes and purchase the European unified currency, instead.

However, an agent from a money exchange office in Caracas, Venezuela, pointed out that demand for Euros is slim since dollars circulate in most Caribbean territories as a second-tier currency and for the time being, sightseers still prefer greenbacks.

The Euro Zone spent three years preparing for the implementation of the new cash after the monetary unit was unveiled in January 1999. An additional 8-week period was granted after the “Euro D-Day” –January 1st- to round up an unprecedented logistic and administrative task.

The fast fadeout of the “exiting” currencies proves the process could have been limited to a shorter span of time than the two months allowed by nine countries within the boundaries of the Euro Zone.

The remaining three nations –the Netherlands, Ireland and France- had already wrapped up the process.

“The new currency is now a part of daily life. Even outside the Euro Zone, people and stores are now familiar with the new cash,” commented Antti Heinoken, who ran the operation since 1998 as Director for Paper Currency at the European Central Bank.

Nonetheless, the process on those Caribbean islands, still administered in part by France and Holland, is going piecemeal.