PARIS, Dec 24: Despite its name and its origins, the euro on January 1, will also find its way into the hands and pockets of consumers living in places that have no official link to the 12-nation euro zone.

The European single currency, in addition to making its debut in cash form in the 12 members of the European Union, will also begin circulating in an assortment of principalities, departments, republics as well as the Vatican.

The official members of the euro zone are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, with a combined population of around 304 million people.

Britain, Denmark and Sweden, all European Union (EU) members, have yet to join the euro zone.

But the European principalities of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino as well as the Holy See (Vatican City) will also use euros, with the latter three minting coins bearing specific images in the same way as the 12 official nations.

Some of the coins circulating in Vatican City will carry the image of Pope John Paul II while in Monaco coins worth one and two euros will feature the reigning monarch, Prince Ranier, or his son Albert.

The Yugoslav republic of Montenegro, which now uses the German mark, will also adopt the single currency even though it has not been invited to join the euro zone.

In the southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo, where the mark also circulates with official backing, the euro will begin taking over at midnight on December 31 as well.

Much further afield, the euro will become the official currency in Reunion, the French Indian Ocean island and tourist paradise that is classified as a French overseas department.

Reunion, in fact, will make history early on January 1 when the single European currency will begin circulating as cash hours before it appears in Europe itself.

Midnight will come to Reunion at 2000 GMT on the night of December 31, two hours ahead of Greece and Finland, three hours head of Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Luxembourg, and four hours ahead of Portugal and Ireland.

Four hours after Portugal and Ireland, the euro will enter general circulation in the French Caribbean departments of Antilles, Martinique and Guadaloupe.

French holdings classified as overseas territories, such as French Polynesia, Wallis and Fortuna and New Caledonia will continue to use the Pacific franc.

The Netherlands Antilles and Aruba will retain the Netherlands Antillean guilder and the Aruban guilder, respectively.

In Africa, 14 countries that currently use the CFA franc (equal to 100 French francs) will continue to do so.

But they will see the exchange rate mechanically converted, with one euro worth 655.957 CFA, through an arrangement reached with the French government.

Up to 12 eastern European countries, most of them former communist states, could join the EU starting in 2004 after an intergovernmental conference aimed at preparing the Union’s institutions for more members.

They could eventually join the euro-zone as well, creating the potential for a population of some 475 million people bound in a common economic area. —AFP