At 0:32 -0400 01/04/25, kilopascal wrote: >In January, when the Euro currency takes over, I'm sure it will affect >postage stamps too. If I had three 20 c? stamps, one from Germany, one from >France and one from Greece, would I be able to place them on a letter I >intend to mail from Italy if the postage due was 60 c?? > >In other words, would Euro denominated postage stamps be able to cross >borders like the money will? Interesting question, John. But a rather sad answer... Indeed there will be no European postage stamps. In the US, postage service is a federal responsibility - this is in your Constitution. Not in Europe - we don't have (yet) a European Constitution ! Each postal service will remain national, with stamps issued by "La Poste" in France, "Deutsche Post" in Germany, etc. From 2002/01/01 on, all stamps will be denominated exclusively in euro, (most of them alreaydy are) - but may be not at the same face value. Because so far there is no intention to harmonize postage rates. For example, a stamp for a letter up to 20 g costs 3 FFR in France and 17 BEF in Belgium. Converted into euros, you will need a 0,42 � stamp if you drop your letter in Belgium and a 0,46 � one in France ! You could not therefore use a German stamp in Italy, a French one in Greece, etc. Sorry... I personally raised that question to a European Commissioner some time ago, at a conference. His reply was surprising : "By God, we overlooked that !" Yes, we are building Europe. But progressively ! We have a say in French : "Paris ne s'est pas fait en un jour" (Paris has not be made in one day). The same applies to Europe... Incidentally, please do not use *c* for *cent* (eurocent). There is no symbol for the cent. Simply write *0.20 �* (or, much better, 0,20 � !). Thanks for being so interested with European matters. I also am ! Louis
