THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A majority of Estonians are embracing the joining of their economy to the eurozone on Saturday in spite of the deepening crisis of confidence in the single currency.
The Baltic country becomes the 17th member of the euro and the first from the former Soviet Union. Some 85m euro coins featuring a map of Estonia and 12m banknotes have gone into circulation, starting a two-week phase out of the national currency, the kroon.
Joakim Helenius, chief executive of Trigon Capital, an asset management company, said that 20 years after breaking away from the Soviet Union the euro was a "symbol of hope" for many Estonians, adding, "It symbolises that Estonia has emerged as a full member of the European family."
After a year of convulsions and ever-direr predictions that the euro cannot survive, the majority of Estonians still support joining. A recent, admittedly small, poll showed that 52 per cent backed the move although that was slightly down from November. The Finance Ministry blamed the slippage on an early case of nostalgia for the kroon. >>> Martin Banks in Brussels | Friday, December 31, 2010
