The Dutch have a lot to give up. The guilder is the oldest currency in Europe dating back to the 13th Century. Yet the evidence is that the Netherlands is embracing Europe's single currency. The guilder is nearly dead ... long live the euro.

According to the opinion polls the Dutch are only second to the Italians in their enthusiasm for the euro. More than 70% want a single currency. More than 40% already say they feel well informed about the euro.

Dutch Finance minister Gerrit Zalm has upset eurosceptics

The government has set up a National Forum for the introduction of the euro and seems to be reaping the rewards of careful preparation. At the mint in Utrecht, staff are working two shifts to try to produce enough euros for 2002. This year alone they will have churned out more than a billion coins.

Euro condoms

The fact that the Dutch guilder has shadowed the German mark for years has perhaps made it easier to accept the idea of a combined currency for Europe. The fact that Wim Duisenburg, the President of the European Central Bank, is a Dutchman, may have also helped.

Not tulips, but Euros from Amsterdam

But the Dutch say they have always been a trading people and as long as there is money to be made then they will take on anything new. In Amsterdam they are even selling euro condoms.

Opposition to the single currency is small. But the Dutch Finance Minister, Gerrit Zalm, felt the full force of ant-euro sentiment when he opened euro trading in the Amsterdam Stock exchange.