At a time when most new members of the European Union, including the Czech Republic, are dithering over when they will replace their national currencies with the euro, Slovenia is bucking that trend.

On Jan. 1, it became the 13th member of the euro zone, the first former communist country — and the first of the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 — to adopt the single currency.

In recent weeks, the Slovenian government has revved up its information campaign to make sure the transition is a smooth one: Last month, every household received a free calculator preprogrammed with the Slovenian tolar-euro conversion.

There is a buzz on the streets here in the capital, Ljubljana, but it's not entirely positive.

"The major concern is what will happen to prices," says Jaka Terpinc, editor-in-chief of The Slovenian Times. "Everybody's experience is that in other countries, prices went up."

That's a fear shared by most Czechs, even as the Czech Republic has yet to commit firmly to an adoption date. According to a recent poll, three out of four Czechs believe the euro will causes prices to increase.

Countries such as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic will be watching Slovenia closely in the coming months to see how its monetary transition goes.

"It is a chance for the Czech Republic to learn from Slovenia, to learn about any possible obstacles and avoid them when it comes time to adopt the currency," says Pavel Sobíšek, chief economist at HVB Bank.

But if recent months are any indication, it's hard to say when that will be. In rapid-fire succession Czechs, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Estonians and Poles have all postponed their adoption dates. Czechs, hopefuls for 2010, now say two to four years after that is more realistic. Budget deficits are too blame.

Other countries aggressively courted foreign investment after 2004, which drove up debt. Slovenia didn't.

The Slovenian government also maintained a presence in key market sectors like telecommunications and energy, which kept prices steady. Other governments, including the Czech Republic, chose to privatize them.