<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Aubie:
I have Dutch, German, Belgian, French, Austrian, and Italian money - not much, $300, but when I visit the countries again, what do I do? Go all the way to the National Bank or throw the money away?
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Yes - those are your choices (or give it to a charity for whom US$300 could be sufficient to save the lives of maybe ten children in Africa through vaccinations).
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">When I withdrew money from EU-member ATM's, I thought I was putting sufficient faith in the Government's backing of their money. Guess not - I can no longer spend it or exchange it(without a journey to the central bank). From what I have read, in 12 years, the old currencies will no longer be exchangeable for Euros. </font>
It should hardly have been a surprise if you are a regular traveller to Europe. It was all agreed in principle about 7 or 8 years before the changeover happened.
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I wonder how this has been allowed?</font>
Allowed by whom? If you mean by the people, then it was "allowed" by the fact that the political parties in the relevant countries ran for election with the Euro as a key item in their manifestos. They were elected. They carried out their manifesto promises. That's how democracy works.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Maybe that is why U.S. money is so accepted throughout the world</font>
Dollars only tend to be accepted outside currency exchanges / banks in countries with very unstable currencies of their own. You won't get very far trying to buy something in a shop in Paris/Tokyo/Singapore/Hong Kong/UK/etc. with US Dollars.
[This message has been edited by christep (edited 08-25-2002).]