crisis, euroI have a €10 banknote in my pocket, because I worked for a company and received a salary for that.
Somehow I understand that this €10 banknote is a guarantee to get real goods when I need them.
Somehow, this bill embodies a debt that someone else contracted to me.
Now my question, if my basic understanding is correct is:
The €10 note is balanced as an obligation in the balance sheet of the European Central Bank.
The ECB guarantees that you will get 10 EUR back, for example another €10 note.
The relation to Greece is very lose: Cash is issued by the national central banks which make up the European Central Banking System on behalf of the ECB. That is why you find coins with national symbols on one side. Still, every legally issued Euro is interchangeable, and even if Greece would split from the ECBS and leave the Euro, coins issued by the Greece central bank up to that point will not lose their value, as they were issued under the direction of the ECB as the then legal tender.
The Euro, like the US Dollar and most other government issued currency is a Fiat Currency.
There is no debt associated with the E10 note you possess. It is legal tender and accepted by merchants and creditors for payment of debt.
No one guarantees it. But it is currently accepted in trade for goods, services, and payments of debt through out most of Europe. In addition there are money changers that will convert your Euro Notes into many other currencies.
Greece is a member of the Eurozone and has the ability to issue new Euro Notes. Conceivably, they could devalue the Euro(or at least Greek issued Euros) by issuing more. Doing so would have an impact felt around the globe probably causing some devaluation of the Euro as a whole, at least in the short term, as investors flee the euro in the aftermath.
That said the money that you had before the euro was a Fiat currency as well. It would be difficult to barter with you local market at any rate one would consider fair using a precious metal, gems, or other hard commodity. The government of Greece is unlikely to actually do severe devaluation of the Euro in that way as doing so would be effectively shooting itself in the foot at the same time it alienates everyone who is trying to help it.
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