According to sociologists at the Eurobarometer bulletin, 66% of eurozone citizens would now be willing to give up one-cent coins, and 60% would also give up two-cent coins. But such a radical decision requires more than just popular will – it also requires a joint decision by European monetary authorities. For now, despite growing popular discontent year after year, euro cents survive, although in some countries almost all citizens oppose this small change. For example, in Ireland, Belgium and Luxembourg, more than 80% of residents oppose one-cent coins, while 74% of Luxembourgers and 73% of Belgians are ready to remove two-cent coins from circulation.
Ideas about scrapping the smallest euro change began to appear even before euro cash was introduced. In some eurozone countries, the very appearance of euro cents was a great shock to shoppers' psyches: in Italy and Greece, for example, most of the population no longer remembered the times when their native lire and drachmas were divided into smaller 'fractions'. However, in 2002 only Finland decided on radical measures and immediately refused to count one- and two-cent coins.
By agreement between traders and consumer organizations, all prices in this country were immediately rounded to multiples of five cents. As a result, in Finland one- and two-euro-cent coins quickly went out of everyday use, and now Finns treat small change more calmly than anyone else – only 39% of citizens (the lowest figure in the eurozone) call for scrapping one-cent coins.
The most ardent supporters of abandoning small change are, as expected, the central banks of the eurozone countries. They quite quickly encountered a situation common throughout the world where the cost of minting small coins exceeds their face value. For example, minting one-cent coins is now a completely unprofitable business, especially given that metal prices are rising. As early as August of last year, the German central bank – the central bank of the eurozone's key country – floated the idea of abolishing small change in the media, but at the time this innovation did not gain traction. Moreover, retail businesses took offense at the reform-minded financiers, since abolishing one-cent coins would undermine one of the common retail strategies.
Nowadays, price tags often show amounts like '€5.99', with the whole euros written large and the cent 'add-on' much smaller. As a result, the buyer is left with the impression that the product costs 'five euros and some small change', when in fact it costs almost six euros. Abolishing small coins would complicate such manipulations of shopper psychology.
Moreover, Germany is not the best place to fight against euro small change. Germans have a better attitude toward one- and two-cent coins than any other European nation (except, of course, the Finns). In Germany, only 44% of the population dislikes one-cent coins, and 48% dislike two-cent coins. This may also be due to Germans' habit of their historical 'full-weight' pfennigs: after all, the mark until recently was a fairly expensive currency, which in Western Europe was second only to the British pound sterling.
Nevertheless, last year two more countries – the Netherlands and Belgium – made a fundamental decision to banish the two smallest coins. They decided to follow the Finnish example and switch to rounding prices. In the Netherlands, this practice began on September 1. However, it will be more difficult to remove euro small change from circulation in the Benelux countries than in Finland: Finland is located on the edge of the eurozone, and few foreign-minted coins are mixed in with Finnish euro coins. But Belgium and the Netherlands are surrounded on almost all sides by euro states that have so far not decided to give up small change.
However, if we are to judge by the Eurobarometer calculations, besides one- and two-cent coins there are other candidates for withdrawal from circulation. For example, 19% of eurozone residents would happily give up five-cent coins. This coin is most disliked by Italians (40% are against five cents) and Finns (34%). And 6% of Europeans believe they do not need even the largest coin, the two-euro coin.
However, the same eurozone citizens who largely welcome the abolition of the two smallest coins are very afraid of the possible consequences of such a decision. The fact is that prices would have to be rounded as well, and no one doubts that sellers would change price tags in their own favor.
Europeans remember that after the transition from national currencies to euro cash, shop prices rose disproportionately, although it was assumed that traders would simply convert francs, marks, pesetas and guilders at the official rate. So the average European shopper expects nothing good from the hypothetical abolition of small coins either: 65% of those surveyed are sure that even such a 'purely technical' reform would push prices upward.
By the way, if any rare coins end up in your wallet, do not rush to throw them away. Because even the smallest coin can be worth good money – any numismatist will tell you that. For example, on the specialized website Coins.kiev.ua you can get coins from almost the whole world valued for free, and they will also help you find a buyer. For instance, some gold coins of Tsarist Russia that you might have inherited from your great-grandmother are sometimes valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. But more about how much exactly your coin costs, only professional appraisers can tell you.