BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovak banks did brisk business as they opened on New Year's Day for a very special occasion — issuing euros to citizens eager to get their hands on the country's new currency.
The small alpine nation on Thursday became the 16th country to adopt the European Union's euro — a currency that also celebrated its 10th birthday this New Year's Day.
With the addition of Slovakia, the euro will be used by 330 million people with an annual gross domestic product of more than 4 trillion euros ($5.6 trillion).
The decision by this country of 5.4 million people to join the eurozone and abandon the Slovak koruna appears even wiser now amid the global financial crisis, as other European countries have seen their currencies severely buffeted.
"I congratulate Slovakia and warmly welcome all its citizens to the euro area," said EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. "The euro will help Slovakia to take part in, and benefit from, Europe's collective effort to recover from the current economic crisis.
"But the euro is more than just money. On this historic New Year's Day, Slovakia is a powerful symbol of economic and political progress and of European integration."
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's comments were tinged with nostalgia.
"We're saying goodbye to the Slovak currency that meant so much to us," he said.
"Part of us, the Slovak identity, is leaving."
Other currencies sufferSlovakia is adapting as some people in EU members Denmark and Sweden are rethinking their countries' refusal to sign up. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Thursday his government will set a target date for the euro's adoption in November.
Other countries have seen their currencies hit badly. Neighboring EU member Hungary, once the beacon of economic success in post-communist Eastern Europe, was forced earlier this year to accept a bailout from the International Monetary Fund to avert economic collapse, as has non-EU member Ukraine.
Iceland, neither an EU nor a euro member, has suffered badly as an outsider, being hit with a combination of a plunging currency and the popularity of high-interest foreign currency loans. That means monthly loan repayments for cars and homes have doubled this year, jolting Icelanders as the economy teeters and jobs are slashed.
Katinka Barysch, an analyst at the London-based Centre for European Reform think tank, said recent currency swings have underlined the benefits of the euro to Eastern European states.
"The very stark experience of being in the middle of a global economic storm means they have felt very cold and uncomfortable," she said.
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