Click on the map above or scroll down to read about how the euro changeover went.

Austria gave the European Commission a glimpse of its worst nightmare when a technical hitch knocked the nation's 2,400 ATMs out of action for 90 minutes. The hiccup came as the country hit its target of 100 per cent for converting ATMs to euros.

Shopkeepers in Belgium warned of an imminent cash crunch as shoppers rushed to exchange old money for freshly-minted euros.

Shops in Belgium led eurozone countries in giving euros as change in about 85 per cent of transactions.

But small businesses complained consumers were using them as a bureau de change and seemed reluctant to part with the crisp notes and shiny coins when making new purchases, preferring to exhaust existing supplies of old currency.

Danes showed a healthy appetite for the new currency despite voting against its adoption.

Danish banks reported heavy demand and Nordea, the Nordic region's largest banking group, had to order fresh supplies to keep pace.

The police station at Copenhagen's central rail station stood out as one of the few places in the complex that was unwilling to do business in euros.

Police insisted that anyone who wanted to pay a parking fine had to use kroner.

Despite pockets of resistance, about three-quarters of all shops in the country are prepared to accept euros, according to a survey by an employers group.

Finland was at the bottom of the class along with Portugal and Italy in preparing its ATMs, according to the European Commission.

Finland deliberately opted for a slower conversion to prevent problems over the holiday and cash machines in central Helsinki continued to dispense markka into the new year.

Despite the easy pace of conversion the FT set out to test whether Finnish euro coins, with their distinctive national emblems on one side, would be accepted in a small Greek town, 2,500km away, on the first day of the new year.

Wind-battered Rafina, 30km east of Athens and a shabby jumping-off point for ferries to the Aegean islands, was the testing ground. The result was a success after Christina Papadopoulou, a shipping agent for Blue Star ferries, accepted the Finnish euro coin after turning it over repeatedly in her hands.

France appeared to be well on the way to completing the currency switch without major problems by day three of the euro.

Most of the difficulties concerned longer queues in places such as cinemas, bakeries and banks as cashiers struggled with the two currencies. However, the feared bankers' strike which threatened to disrupt the euro roll-out was a damp squib as few bank workers participated and services carried on much as normal.

BNP Paribas said the bank's outlets had handled about eight times more customers than usual and pleaded for people to take their time, since francs would still be in use until February 17.

One early glitch happened even before the euro-launch at the Pompidou Centre in Paris on New Year's eve when it was forced to open its doors for free for most of the day because of what one official described as "serious problems with the new till system".

Despite Germans' attachment to the strong D-Mark and lukewarm feelings towards the euro before its launch, the currency was greeted with a sense of excitement and the roll-out passed relatively painlessly.

In a telephone poll conducted by Germany's ARD television channel, more than three quarters of 10,000 callers on January 2 said they had experienced a trouble-free first business day. It was expected that the outgoing national currencies would vanish more quickly than had been expected.

Holger Wenzel, head of the HDE retail trade federation, told German radio on Thursday that he believed the D-Mark would be largely out of circulation by the end of next week. His comments echoed those of some of the big German retail companies, such as KarstadtQuelle and Kamps, the chain of bakers.

Greece's extended New Year holiday deferred the true test of euro introduction.

Although Greece is said to be one of the least-prepared of all eurozone countries, by day 3 of the euro roll-out, it had reached 100 per cent conversion-rate across its ATM network. However, by the launch only 50,000 small businesses, from a total of 300,000 had been supplied with euros, according to the economy ministry. The country received the dubious honour of having the first post-launch robbery when a man held up a Post Office Savings Bank on January 2. He made off with E76,000 ($68,400).

Pundits were predicting the Irish punt would be the minority currency within a week of the launch of the euro as some E2.5bn was in circulation by New Year's Day alongside a further I£3.7bn.

The Irish Central Bank was offering free champagne and whiskey to those willing to queue to exchange their punts for euros.

One small business owner said his biggest problem was having to run to the bank several times a day to replenish stocks of euros.

But in the first significant glitch, Allied Irish Bank confirmed that about 1,400 people using ATMs around the country were accidentally charged commissions for the withdrawal of euros.

Italy was the country with the biggest problems during the changeover according to the European Commission.

Police were called in to resolve disputes as long and sometimes angry queues formed at banks, post offices, railway stations and motorway tolls across the country.

The botched transition sparked a split at the heart of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government.

Antonio Martino, defence minister, spelled out the concerns of eurosceptics. "I hope I'm wrong, but there are big risks that the experience of the euro will end in failure, given the way it was introduced."

Renato Ruggiero, foreign minister, was quoted in newspaper Corriere della Sera as saying he was "saddened" by his colleagues' hostile comments.

The Vatican delayed the issue of 670,000 special euro coins bearing the image of the Pope because of the government's mishandling of the transition.

Figures supplied to the Commission put the level of adaptation of Italian ATMs at 70 per cent on January 2. Two-way euro transactions accounted for only 10 per cent of the total in Italy, compared to about 50 per cent in France and the Netherlands.

Luxembourg was alongside Austria, Germany and the Netherlands in reporting 100 per cent ATM conversion by January 2.

The birth of euro notes and coins was not entirely painless for New Year's eve revellers in Amsterdam. Emerging from discotheques, where they had been spending guilders, some were frustrated in their attempts to get euros as some cash machines remained out of commission. But by January 2 the country was reporting 100 per cent conversion of ATMs after banks reported a record 3m transactions on New Year's day.

The Dutch association of small and medium-sized businesses, complained that the banks had not ensured that ATMs contained enough small-denomination notes. As a result, people were paying in shops and cafes with high-value euro bills. Numerous small shops in Amsterdam were refusing to accept notes of E100 ($88, £60) or higher for modest-sized purchases, such as packs of cigarettes, to conserve their supplies of change.

Portugal took the softly, softly approach to euro conversion and lagged behind other eurozone countries in the conversion of its ATMs, along with Finland and Italy.

Bank of Portugal officials said E30m had been withdrawn on New Year's Day. The bank was forced to step in after Banco Nacional de Credito was found to be illegally charging customers a commission of 0.5 per cent for changing old money for E200 and above.

The slow approach was reflected at Estoril Casino, the biggest casino in Europe, where New Year's Eve gamblers could not collect winnings in euros.

Not a single euro chip was pushed across the green baize of the gaming tables. Nor was a single euro coin gambled on the casino's 1,200 slot machines.

The casino said it was investing E4m in converting its slot machines to accept euros. But this would be done gradually over the month of January.

Spaniards enthusiastically welcomed the new currency and queued up in banks and at ATMs on January 1 to get hold of the new banknotes, writes Yolanda Ortiz de Arri. About 900 banks opened on New Year's Day to start distributing euros.

The Spanish Bank Association (AEB), said demand surpassed predictions. In 48 hours, Spaniards exchanged E4bn, reaching levels predicted for countries with larger populations, such as Germany. However, most people chose to avoid possible complications and paid in pesetas for their daily transactions.

Only 14 per cent of cash transactions were carried out in euros, according to the Spanish Commerce Federation. The urge to exchange the last "blondes" - as pesetas are known in Spain - and the lack of euros in many shops shadowed the new currency on its first non-festive day.

The euro was the talking point of most conversations and most Spaniards expressed their satisfaction at being one of the 12 participating countries and showed no sentimentalism towards the peseta. "It would be much easier to have only one currency from the start. This way I need two purses and have to be very alert to avoid being ripped off", said a housewife.

In Stockholm, the Swedish capital, some of the large stores accepted the new currency just as they already accept mainstream foreign currencies such as D-Marks or US dollars.

However, many shops are refusing to accept the eurozone currencies that are being phased out. Thomas Eulau, head of euro information at the Swedish Federation of Trade, said the organisation had recommended that retailers do not take legacy currencies, partly due to a fear that forgeries will be off-loaded in countries where the currencies were less known, he said.

One city where the euro was welcome was Haparanda on the Finnish border in the far north. Here Swedes queued in temperatures of -25C to get hold of the new currency at a branch of Svenska Handelsbanken that opened just after midnight to meet demand.








UNITED KINGDOM

The arrival of the new notes and coins in the eurozone, triggered wide political debate on the UK's entry into the euro. All the high street chains that had pledged to take the euro were accepting the currency in London's central shopping areas from January 1. This raised fears among eurosceptics that the much-vaunted eurocreep effect, the desensitisation of the public to the single currency, might become reality.