This Europe: Smart card mops up a pocketful of euros

No sooner have the French adapted to the euro than they are being asked to consider switching to a new currency, the Moneo. By the end of next year, the whole of France will have converted to a form of electronic, or plastic, small change, which will allow even the smallest payments to be made with a credit or bank card.

The Moneo is already functioning experimentally in a handful of French cities, including Lyons, Bordeaux and Montpellier. Paris will switch to the Moneo system in November and the country will be online by the end of 2003.

The principle is simple. You use your normal bank card or a Moneo card. You make small purchases – a baguette costs less than a euro – without having a coin in your pocket. As long as the baker has a Moneo terminal (27,000 do) your buy can be charged directly to the "small change" part of your bank card or your Moneo card, which you have loaded with, say €100.

The electronic chip in your card tots up your transactions. When you have run out of small change on your card, you replenish it from your account on the Moneo terminal in the bakery.