"Dik T. Winter" wrote in message
...
In article Roland Perry
writes:
In message , at 10:55:40 on Thu, 19 Jun 2008, Dik T.
Winter remarked:
On another note, though, I would like to see the abolition of the
1p
and 2p coins as the Dutch have done with the 1 and 2 euro-cent
coins.
There is hardly a need for them these days.

Are they allowed to do that when they are valid elsewhere in the EU?

The 1 and 2 cent coins are accepted but that is just about all.
Moreover,
when paying in cash the total amount to pay is rounded to the nearest
multiple of 5 cent (which is allowed *), so you will never receive 1
and
2 cent coins.

Half an hour ago a Dutch bureau de change gave me a 97 cents, rather
than the 96 cents they calculated they owed me. The change included one
each of 2c and 5c.

Individual shops may do it differently, but what I wrote is the general
situation.

So it seems the Dutch have not abolished the 2c after all.

Neither have the Fins. But neither the Dutch nor the Fins do mint those
coins. And neither Finland nor in the Netherlands do they really
circulate. I have a 2 cent coin in my pocket that is there since I was
in Belgium, last October.
--

Because it is the European Central Bank that decides the policy on 1- and
2-cent coins, and not the individual member states.