08 January, 2002

Islands celebrated euro with champagne

The Mediterranean island-states of Malta and Cyprus have joined the euro. The island bigwigs said hello and goodbye with champagne in their glasses. I could be tempted to say: What else?

Cypriots and Malteses can prepare themselves for daily brain gymnastics. The psychological crossing from one currency to another is rather immense, when the calculations are not just the purchases of two weeks of holidays somewhere but instead cover your complete life with everything from toothpaste to flatscreens.

Seven years after the euro succeeded the French franc, many shops still put their prices in francs. And personally I still - after four years in France - convert from euroes to the Danish currency "kroner" and "oerer". Otherwise I just don't get the prices right.

When it comes to the price of the very official toast of Malta and Cyprus, I don't know whether the big champagnehouses sponsor this type of events. If not, they should. Since it cultivates the image of champagne in the most guilded way, you could possibly want, if you happen to be in the field of marketing champagnes.

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