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There are reports of long lines outside Estonian banks as many worry that they won't be able to use their kroon after the 1 January switch to the euro.
"I have been in line for slightly over half an hour and will probably have to wait for an hour more. I want to exchange my savings, slightly over 45,000 kroons (2,876 euros, 3,804 dollars) into euros," said one Tallinn resident. "I'll feel better when I have euros now and I want the money in cash because I don't trust banks," he said.
The kroon was pegged to the euro in 2002 at a rate of 15.6466 to one euro and has never changed.
"It seems that many people have failed to understand that they can still pay with kroons during first two weeks of January and after that they can change their kroons into euros in commercial banks" throughout 2011, said a bank spokesman.
And about the euro's current troubles? Polling has half the population of just over a million in favor of the euro, with the rest either apathetic or opposed.
“Talking about splitting the euro is not the way out,” Jürgen Ligi, the Estonian finance minister, said during an interview. “There would be huge immediate losses for both sides. There is no alternative” to the euro, Mr. Ligi said. “This is the only boat in the sea.”
