As the European Union has announced, the euro has reached another milestone, celebrating its 20th birthday this year.
The euro came into being two decades ago, on 1 January 1999, when, as the European Union explains, 11 EU countries elected to fix their exchange rates, “adopted a shared monetary policy under the European Central Bank, and launched a new common currency on world financial markets”. Three years after this, euro notes and coins entered circulation.
Now, twenty years on, the euro has become the currency of 19 countries in the EU and is the “second most important currency in the world.”
Among its benefits, the EU cites its stability, meaning users can “spend money safely and borrow and invest with confidence.” The euro also makes it easier to travel, and to do business in EU countries, as well as to trade with the rest of the world, and is used “for almost 40 percent of global cross-border payments and for almost half the EU’s exports.”
Having a common currency is also beneficial when it comes to shopping, as it “supports a more transparent and competitive single market.”
Currently, 74 percent of Europeans say they are in favour of European economic and monetary union, and of having the euro as a single currency.
To find out more about the euro, click here.
