Businesses in EU ready for `E-Day'

So E-day is more important for its symbolism and for the logistical nightmare that it will create.

Mindful that distributing 14.5 billion new euro bank notes and almost 50 billion new coins risks chaos at shops and banks on January 1, there is a clear campaign to boost attention to the powerful pan-European emblem that the new cash creates.

Unlike previous monetary changeovers, the launch of the euro is not the direct consequence of a catastrophe like hyper-inflation or the fall of an empire, which gave birth to Reich marks, Deutsche marks and even the US dollar.