Could Estonia´s euro changeover cause an international incident?

Estonian €2

Eesti Päevaleht in Tallinn reports that authorities have somehow neglected to inform the Russian-speaking community in Narva (on the border with Russia) of the coming changeover to the euro on 1 January, 2011. [thanks to presseurop.eu]

Rumours of all sorts are reportedly circulating around Narva and currency exchanges are exploiting these rumours in order to "play" with the exchange rates of the three currencies, thoroughly confusing the local people.

Of course got all sorts of this stuff with euro changeovers in other countries, but relations between the small Baltic country and its larger neighbour aren´t always the best. Scope for mischief here.

We´ve still got some kroons lying in a drawer from our last trip to Tallinn (worth less than €1). Thing we remember most about the money is that we never seemed to see coins. Although they exist down to 5 cents. (One kroon is worth about five pence). Maybe, they´re a bit American in this respect. So how the Estonians are going to react to a coin worth 31.2932 kroon is anyone´s guess. (Probably just stick to plastic - very Nordic in that respect.)

Couple of other stories about the changeover here and here worth reading as well.

I tend to agree with the Estonian Free Press that the map silhouette is a bit boring. Maybe they should have gone with the three lions. That would have had the Daily Mail spluttering.