Supporters say the unprecedented move will benefit businesses and consumers alike. Critics warn it is a giant leap into the unknown.

European Union finance ministers meet in Brussels from 1130 GMT to set the rates at which 11 national currencies will be locked forever against the euro, heralding the new currency's official birth at midnight (2300 GMT) across the euro zone.

Central bankers kick off the day's formal proceedings at 1000 GMT with a teleconference to determine the final exchange rate between the Ecu, the euro's precursor, and the US dollar. Based on this data, the EU's executive commission will then put forward a set of proposed rates at which the 11 currencies will lock against the new euro.

The announcement of the locking rates at around 1230 GMT will trigger a frantic weekend for some50,000 staff at financial institutions and businesses across Europe as they race to prepare computer systems for the euro before financial markets open for business on Monday.

But, for the politicians and EU officials who have steered the ambitious project through often choppy waters, it will be time to celebrate, with the popping of champagne corks and release of thousands of balloons boasting the euro logo.

A host of events is planned to usher in the New Year and the dawn of a new era in European integration which, many believe, will lead to deeper political ties between the 15 EU partners.

The 11 euro zone members -- Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Greece remain on the sidelines for now -- will be taking one of the most extraordinary steps in Europe's long history, forging a common future as an integrated economic power when, little over 50 years ago, many were enemies on the battlefield.

"It will be the first time the continent of Europe will have its own currency and the first time we have achievedsuch a result without arms (war)," European monetary affairs commissioner Yves-Thibault de Silguy told Reuters Television.

The 11 euro zone partners are Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Yet the euro's launch will make little practical difference at first for most Europeans as euro coins and notes will not be issued until January 2002.

Later that year the cherished mark, franc and other monies, often powerful symbols of national pride and sovereignty, will be confined to history. For the next three years, the euro will be used mainly for electronic financial and business transactions. Consumers will be able to have euro-denominated bank and credit card accounts, mortgages and travellers' and personal cheques.

Businesses should no longer be shackled by foreign exchange costs and the common currency is seen spurring cross border integration, fostering a class of giant euro zone companies -- from banks and insurers to leisure andtravel firms. For consumers, it will make travel throughout the euro zone easier and allow a clearer comparison of prices of goods, which often differ sharply between European partners.

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Gordon Brown and Sweden's Erik Asbrink are staying away from Thursday's Brussels party, while Germany's Oskar Lafontaine has chosen not to disrupt his holiday.

The euro zone will account for almost one fifth of global economic output and trade, although for now the bloc lacks the political muscle to match its economic might. Governed by a new European Central Bank in Frankfurt, the euro is expected to rival the mighty dollar for supremacy as the world's leading commercial and reserve currency. The euro zone will bring together 291 million inhabitants with a 1997 gross domestic product of $6.5 trillion, compared with a US population of 269 million and GDP of $8 trillion.

"Europe, the greatest trading power in the world, will have its own currency and be able toreshape the international monetary system with the aim of achieving greater stability and growth in the world," de Silguy said.