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In Europe, the most commonly used currency is the euro (used by 26 countries); any country entering the European Union (EU) is expected to join the eurozone [1] when they meet the five convergence criteria. [2] Denmark is the only EU member state which has been granted an exemption from using the euro. [1]
Several European microstates outside the EU have adopted the euro as their currency. For EU sanctioning of this adoption, a monetary agreement must be concluded. Prior to the launch of the euro, agreements were reached with Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City by EU member states (Italy in the case of San Marino and Vatican City, and France in the case of Monaco) allowing them to use the euro ...
The euro is also used in countries outside the EU. Four states (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City) have signed formal agreements with the EU to use the euro and issue their own coins. [29] [30] Nevertheless, they are not considered part of the eurozone by the ECB and do not have a seat in the ECB or Euro Group.
Outside Europe, a number of special territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally, over 200 million people worldwide use currencies pegged to the euro . The euro is the second-largest reserve currency as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar .
The euro is the result of the European Union's project for economic and monetary union that came fully into being on 1 January 2002 and it is now the currency used by the majority of the European Union's member states, with all but Denmark (which has an opt-out in the EU treaties) bound to adopt it.
The euro was established in 1999, but "for the first three years it was an invisible currency, used for accounting purposes only, e.g. in electronic payments". [2] In 2002, notes and coins began to circulate. The euro rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded around the European Union.
The European currency hit its all-time high of $1.18 shortly after its launch on Jan. 1, 1999, but then began a long slide, falling through the $1 mark in February 2000 and hitting a record low of ...
[106] [107] [108] 14 of Ireland's top 20 firms (by 2017 turnover) are US-based multinationals [109] and 80% of foreign multinationals in Ireland are from the US. [110] [111] [109] Ireland is part of the EU (dark blue & purple) and Eurozone (dark blue). Ireland adopted the euro currency in 2002 along with eleven other EU member states. [69]