Euro cash becomes legal tender for 300 million Europeans
More than 300 million Europeans have begun swapping their old currencies for the euro at midnight.
Greece and Finland led the way as the euro took physical form as notes and coins a decade after it was conceived.
In Helsinki, Finnish Finance Minister Sauli Niinisto made the first official purchase, buying a cup of coffee with a euro coin at the Casino Ray.
And in the euro zone's southeastern fringe, Greek Premier Costas Simitis withdrew euro bank notes from an automatic teller machine, which he deposited in a charity box for Unicef. Minutes later, hundreds of people flocked to ATMs.
"This is a milestone in Greek history. Now we are part of united Europe," Mr Simitis said.
Though the euro is central to continental Europe's vision of tighter political union, it first became legal tender at midnight (8pm Irish time) on Reunion Island, a French department in the Indian Ocean.
More than 15 billion banknotes and 52 billion coins - worth 646 billion euros, or £400bn - have been produced for the switchover with 6 billion notes and 37.5 coins already distributed to banks and stores.
Despite the fanfare surrounding the debut of the new notes and coins, the single currency came into being three years ago when national currencies were pegged to it at fixed rates.
Though it has lost 25% of its peak value, the euro has generally been viewed as a success - eliminating fluctuations in national currencies, encouraging cross-border trade and pushing countries to budget carefully and liberalise their economies.
"I firmly believe that, because of what the euro has shown it can achieve, and also because of the shared values it symbolises, Europe is stronger than it would ever have been without the dream of the euro coming true," European Central Bank President Wim Duisenburg said in Frankfurt.
