Euro: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 13:58, 18 November 2025

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The euro (symbol: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Template:EUnum member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 100 euro cents.^[1]^[2]

The currency is also used officially by the institutions of the European Union, by four European microstates that are not EU members,^[2] and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, as well as unilaterally by Montenegro and Kosovo. Outside Europe, a number of special territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency.

The euro is used by 350 million people in Europe, and over 200 million people worldwide use currencies pegged to the euro.^[3] It is the second-largest reserve currency as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] Template:As of with more than €1.3 trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world.^[9]^[10]

The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid.^[11] The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$1.1743 at the time). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members, and by March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies.^[12]

Between December 1999 and December 2002, the euro traded below parity with the US dollar, but it has since traded near or above parity with the US dollar. On 13 July 2022, the two currencies briefly hit parity for the first time in nearly two decades, due in part to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[13] In the ten years ending 30 September 2025, the rate has averaged at about $1.00:€0.92.^[14]

Characteristics

Administration

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File:Seat of the European Central Bank and Frankfurt Skyline at dawn 20150422 1.jpg

Seat of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany

The euro is managed and administered by the European Central Bank and the Eurosystem, composed of the central banks of the eurozone countries.^[15] As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy.^[16] The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of euro banknotes and coins in all member states,^[17] and the operation of the eurozone payment systems.^[18]

Through their ratification of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty (or subsequent treaties of accession), most EU member states committed to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, although not all participating states have done so. Denmark has negotiated exemptions,^[19] while Sweden (which joined the EU in 1995, after the Maastricht Treaty was signed) turned down the euro in a 2003 non-binding referendum, and has circumvented its commitment to adopt the euro by not meeting the monetary and budgetary requirements. All nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. The Maastricht Treaty was amended by the 2001 Treaty of Nice, which closed the gaps and loopholes in the Maastricht and Rome Treaties.^[20]

Countries that use the euro

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Eurozone members

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Special territories of members of the European Economic Area

Template:Div col EU Outermost Regions: Template:Colbegin

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Overseas Territories:

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Special Autonomous Territories:

Other users

Microstates with a monetary agreement: Template:Div col

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British Overseas Territory: Template:Div col

Template:Flagcountry^[26]

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Unilateral adopters: Template:Div col

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EU members not using the euro

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Acceding to the eurozone

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Template:Flagcountry: Bulgaria has been approved to replace the Bulgarian lev with the euro on 1 January 2026.^[28]

Committed to adopt the euro

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The following five EU member states, representing almost 90 million people, committed themselves in their respective Treaty of Accession to adopt the euro. However they do not have a deadline to do so and can delay the process by deliberately not complying with the convergence criteria (such as by not meeting the convergence criteria to join ERM II).

Opt-outs

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 included protocols on Denmark and the United Kingdom, giving them opt-outs with the right to decide if and when they would adopt the euro.^[29]

Template:Flagcountry: The government of Denmark negotiated an opt-out to retain usage of the Danish krone, but the currency is pegged to the euro via the ERM II, the European Union's exchange rate mechanism.
Template:Flagcountry: Prior to its withdrawal from the European Union in 2020, the United Kingdom negotiated an opt-out to retain usage of the pound sterling.

Coins and banknotes

Coins

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File:Croatian euro coins (10).jpg

Euro coins with Croatian national sides

The euro is divided into 100 cents (also referred to as euro cents, especially when distinguishing them from other currencies, and referred to as such on the common side of all cent coins). In Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage.^[30]^[31] Otherwise, normal English plurals are used,^[32] with many local variations such as centime in France.

All circulating coins have a common side showing the denomination or value and a map in the background. Due to the linguistic plurality in the European Union, the Latin alphabet version of euro is used (as opposed to the less common Greek or Cyrillic) and Arabic numerals (other text is used on national sides in national languages, but other text on the common side is avoided). For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, the map only showed the 15 member states of the union as of 2002. Beginning in 2007 or 2008 (depending on the country), the old map was replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the EU.^[33] The 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, however, keep their old design, showing a geographical map of Europe with the EU member states as of 2002, raised somewhat above the rest of the map. All common sides were designed by Luc Luycx. The coins also have a national side showing an image specifically chosen by the country that issued the coin. Euro coins from any member state may be freely used in any nation that has adopted the euro.

The coins are issued in denominations of €2, €1, 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c, and 1c. To avoid the use of the two smallest coins, some cash transactions are rounded to the nearest five cents in the Netherlands and Ireland^[34]^[35] (by voluntary agreement) and in Finland and Italy (by law).^[36] This practice is discouraged by the commission, as is the practice of certain shops of refusing to accept high-value euro notes.^[37]

Commemorative coins with €2 face value have been issued with changes to the design of the national side of the coin. These include both commonly issued coins, such as the €2 commemorative coin for the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, and nationally issued coins, such as the coin to commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics issued by Greece. These coins are legal tender throughout the eurozone. Collector coins with various other denominations have been issued as well, but these are not intended for general circulation, and they are legal tender only in the member state that issued them.^[38]

File:1 Cent-Vatican-Franciscus-Series 1.jpg	1€-Vatican_Franciscus-Revers	File:1€-Vatican-Benedikt XVI-Revers.jpg

Vatican euro coins with images of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI

Coin minting

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Banknotes

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File:Various Euro banknotes.jpg

First series of Euro banknotes of various denominations

The design for the euro banknotes has common designs on both sides. The design was created by the Austrian designer Robert Kalina.^[39] Notes are issued in €500, €200, €100, €50, €20, €10, and €5. Each banknote has its own colour and is dedicated to an artistic period of European architecture. The front of the note features windows or gateways while the back has bridges, symbolising links between states in the union and with the future. While the designs are supposed to be devoid of any identifiable characteristics, the initial designs by Robert Kalina were of specific bridges, including the Rialto and the Pont de Neuilly, and were subsequently rendered more generic; the final designs still bear very close similarities to their specific prototypes; thus they are not truly generic. The monuments looked similar enough to different national monuments to please everyone.^[40]

The Europa series, or second series, consists of six denominations and no longer includes the €500 with issuance discontinued as of 27 April 2019.^[41] However, both the first and the second series of euro banknotes, including the €500, remain legal tender throughout the euro area.^[41]

In December 2021, the ECB announced its plans to redesign euro banknotes by 2024. A theme advisory group, made up of one member from each euro area country, was selected to submit theme proposals to the ECB. The proposals will be voted on by the public; a design competition will also be held.^[42]

Issuing modalities for banknotes

Since 1 January 2002, the national central banks (NCBs) and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis.^[43] Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the total value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem.^[43] In practice, the ECB's banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs, thereby incurring matching liabilities vis-à-vis the ECB. These liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The other 92% of euro banknotes are issued by the NCBs in proportion to their respective shares of the ECB capital key,^[43] calculated using national share of European Union (EU) population and national share of EU GDP, equally weighted.^[44]

Image		Value	Year	Dimensions (millimetres)	Main colour		Design		Printer code position
Obverse	Reverse	Value	Year	Dimensions (millimetres)	Main colour		Architecture	Century	Printer code position
File:EUR 5 obverse (2013 issue).png	File:EUR 5 reverse (2013 issue).png	€5Script error: No such module "anchor".	2013	120 × 62 mm		Grey^[45]	Classical	8th BC–4th AD	Top right
File:EUR 10 obverse (2014 issue).png	File:EUR 10 reverse (2014 issue).png	€10Script error: No such module "anchor".	2014	127 × 67 mm		Red^[46]	Romanesque	11–12th
File:The Europa series 20 € obverse side.jpg	File:The Europa series 20 € reverse side.jpg	€20Script error: No such module "anchor".	2015	133 × 72 mm		Blue^[47]	Gothic	13–14th
File:The Europa series 50 € obverse side.png	File:The Europa series 50 € reverse side.png	€50Script error: No such module "anchor".	2017	140 × 77 mm		Orange^[48]	Renaissance	15–16th
File:The Europa series 100 € obverse side.jpg	File:The Europa series 100 € reverse side.jpg	€100Script error: No such module "anchor".	2019	147 × 77 mm		Green^[49]	Baroque & Rococo	17–18th
File:The Europa series 200 € obverse side.jpg	File:The Europa series 200 € reverse side.jpg	€200Script error: No such module "anchor".	2019	153 × 77 mm		Yellow-brown^[50]	Art Nouveau	19th
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Banknote printing

Member states are authorised to print or to commission bank note printing. Template:As of, these are the printers: Template:Div col

Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
Banco de Portugal
Bank of Greece
Bank of France
Bundesdruckerei
Central Bank of Ireland
De La Rue
Real Casa de la Moneda
Oberthur Fiduciaire
Giesecke+Devrient
Royal Joh. Enschedé
National Bank of Belgium
Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Setec Oy

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Payments clearing, electronic funds transfer

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Capital within the EU may be transferred in any amount from one state to another. All intra-Union transfers in euro are treated as domestic transactions and bear the corresponding domestic transfer costs.^[51] This includes all member states of the EU, even those outside the eurozone providing the transactions are carried out in euro.^[52] Credit/debit card charging and ATM withdrawals within the eurozone are also treated as domestic transactions; however paper-based payment orders, like cheques, have not been standardised so these are still domestic-based. The ECB has also set up a clearing system, T2 since March 2023, for large euro transactions.^[53]

History

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Introduction

Template:Euro adoption past

The euro was established by the provisions in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty.^[54]^[55] To participate in the currency, member states are meant to meet strict criteria, such as a budget deficit of less than 3% of their GDP, a debt ratio of less than 60% of GDP (both of which were ultimately widely flouted after introduction), low inflation, and interest rates close to the EU average.^[56]^[57] In the Maastricht Treaty, the United Kingdom and Denmark were granted exemptions per their request from moving to the stage of monetary union which resulted in the introduction of the euro (see also United Kingdom and the euro).^[58]^[59]

The name "euro" was officially adopted in Madrid on 16 December 1995.^[11] Belgian Esperantist Germain Pirlot, a former teacher of French and history, is credited with naming the new currency by sending a letter to then President of the European Commission, Jacques Santer, suggesting the name "euro" on 4 August 1995.^[60]

Due to differences in national conventions for rounding and significant digits, all conversion between the national currencies had to be carried out using the process of triangulation via the euro.^[61] The definitive values of one euro in terms of the exchange rates at which the currency entered the euro are shown in the table.

The rates were determined by the Council of the European Union,Template:Efn based on a recommendation from the European Commission based on the market rates on 31 December 1998. They were set so that one European Currency Unit (ECU) would equal one euro. The European Currency Unit was an accounting unit used by the EU, based on the currencies of the member states; it was not a currency in its own right. They could not be set earlier, because the ECU depended on the closing exchange rate of the non-euro currencies (principally pound sterling) that day.

The procedure used to fix the conversion rate between the Greek drachma and the euro was different since the euro by then was already two years old. While the conversion rates for the initial eleven currencies were determined only hours before the euro was introduced, the conversion rate for the Greek drachma was fixed several months beforehand.Template:Efn

The currency was introduced in non-physical form (traveller's cheques, electronic transfers, banking, etc.) at midnight on 1 January 1999, when the national currencies of participating countries (the eurozone) ceased to exist independently. Their exchange rates were locked at fixed rates against each other. The euro thus became the successor to the European Currency Unit (ECU). The notes and coins for the old currencies, however, continued to be used as legal tender until new euro notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002.

The changeover period during which the former currencies' notes and coins were exchanged for those of the euro lasted about two months, until 28 February 2002. The official date on which the national currencies ceased to be legal tender varied from member state to member state. The earliest date was in Germany, where the mark officially ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 2001, though the exchange period lasted for two months more. Even after the old currencies ceased to be legal tender, they continued to be accepted by national central banks for periods ranging from several years to indefinitely (the latter for Austria, Germany, Ireland, Estonia and Latvia in banknotes and coins, and for Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Slovakia in banknotes only). The earliest coins to become non-convertible were the Portuguese escudos, which ceased to have monetary value after 31 December 2002, although banknotes remained exchangeable until 2022.

Currency sign

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File:Euro Construction.svg

Graphic construction of the euro logo

A special euro currency sign (€) was designed after a public survey had narrowed ten of the original thirty proposals down to two. The President of the European Commission at the time (Jacques Santer) and the European Commissioner with responsibility for the euro (Yves-Thibault de Silguy) then chose the winning design.^[62]

Regarding the symbol, the European Commission stated on behalf of the European Union:

The symbol € is based on the Greek letter epsilon (Є), with the first letter in the word "Europe" and with 2 parallel lines signifying stability.
— Template:Comma separated entries

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The European Commission also specified a euro logo with exact proportions.^[63] Placement of the currency sign relative to the numeric amount varies from state to state, but for texts in English published by EU institutions, the symbol (or the ISO-standard "EUR") should precede the amount.^[64]

Eurozone crisis

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File:Europe bonds sovereign debt crisis.webp

European 10 year bonds, before the Great Recession in Europe bonds floated together in parity <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />

Greece 10 year bond

Portugal 10 year bond

Ireland 10 year bond

Spain 10 year bond

Italy 10 year bond

France 10 year bond

Germany 10 year bond

Following the 2008 financial crisis, fears of a sovereign default developed in 2009 among investors concerning some European states, with the situation becoming particularly tense in early 2010.^[65]^[66] Greece was most acutely affected, but fellow Eurozone members Cyprus, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain were also significantly affected.^[67]^[68] All these countries used EU funds except Italy, which is a major donor to the EFSF.^[69] To be included in the eurozone, countries had to fulfil certain convergence criteria, but the meaningfulness of such criteria was diminished by the fact it was not enforced with the same level of strictness among countries.^[70]

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2011, "[I]f the [euro area] is treated as a single entity, its [economic and fiscal] position looks no worse and in some respects, rather better than that of the US or the UK" and the budget deficit for the euro area as a whole is much lower and the euro area's government debt/GDP ratio of 86% in 2010 was about the same level as that of the United States. "Moreover", they write, "private-sector indebtedness across the euro area as a whole is markedly lower than in the highly leveraged Anglo-Saxon economies". The authors conclude that the crisis "is as much political as economic" and the result of the fact that the euro area lacks the support of "institutional paraphernalia (and mutual bonds of solidarity) of a state".^[71]

The crisis continued with S&P downgrading the credit rating of nine euro-area countries, including France, then downgrading the entire European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) fund.^[72]

A historical parallel – to 1931 when Germany was burdened with debt, unemployment and austerity while France and the United States were relatively strong creditors – gained attention in summer 2012^[73] even as Germany received a debt-rating warning of its own.^[74]^[75]

Direct and indirect usage

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Agreed direct usage with minting rights

The euro is the sole currency of 20 EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. These countries constitute the "eurozone", some 347 million people in total Template:As of.^[76] According to bilateral agreements with the EU, the euro has also been designated as the sole and official currency in a further four European microstates awarded minting rights (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City). All other EU member states (except Denmark, which has an opt-out), and any potential future members, are obliged to adopt the euro when economic conditions permit.

Agreed direct usage without minting rights

The euro is also the sole currency in three overseas territories of France that are not themselves part of the EU, namely Saint Barthélemy, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, as well as in the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia.^[77]

Unilateral direct usage

The euro has been adopted unilaterally as the sole currency of Montenegro and Kosovo. It has also been used as a foreign trading currency in Cuba since 1998,^[78] Syria since 2006,^[79] and Venezuela since 2018.^[80] In 2009, Zimbabwe abandoned its local currency and introduced major global convertible currencies instead, including the euro and the United States dollar. The direct usage of the euro outside of the official framework of the EU affects nearly 3 million people.^[81]

Currencies pegged to the euro

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File:DOLLAR AND EURO IN THE WORLD.svg

Worldwide use of the euro and the US dollar: <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />

Eurozone

External adopters of the euro

Currencies pegged to the euro

Currencies pegged to the euro within narrow band

United States

External adopters of the US dollar

Currencies pegged to the US dollar

Currencies pegged to the US dollar within narrow band

Outside the eurozone, two EU member states have currencies that are pegged to the euro, which is a precondition to joining the eurozone. The Danish krone and Bulgarian lev are pegged through to their participation in the ERM II.

On the other hand, the currencies of countries and territories that were pegged to the European currencies that disappeared with the creation of the euro were now pegged to it. Currently, they are as follows:

Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark was pegged to the Deutsche mark. Currently, it has a fixed exchange rate of 1.95583 convertible marks = 1 euro.
Cape Verde: The Cape Verdean escudo was pegged to the Portuguese escudo. Currently, it has a fixed exchange rate of 110.625 Cape Verdean escudos = 1 euro.
Comoros: The Comorian franc was pegged to the French franc. Currently, it has a fixed exchange rate of 491.96775 Comorian francs = 1 euro.
Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo): the Central African CFA franc was pegged to the French franc. It currently has a fixed exchange rate of 655.957 Central African CFA francs = 1 euro.
North Macedonia: The Macedonian denar was pegged to the Deutsche mark. It is currently pegged to the euro. Its exchange rate remains stable at around 61 Macedonian denars to 1 euro.
West African Economic and Monetary Union (Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo): The West African CFA franc was pegged to the French franc. It currently has a fixed exchange rate of 655.957 West African CFA francs = 1 euro.
The French overseas collectivities of French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna as well as the special collectivity of New Caledonia: the CFP franc was pegged to the French franc. It currently has a fixed exchange rate of 1000 CFP francs = 8.38 euros, which makes 119.331742 CFP francs ≈ 1 euro.

Furthermore, the currency of São Tomé and Príncipe (the São Tomé and Príncipe dobra) is pegged to the euro following an agreement signed with Portugal in 2009 and which came into effect on 1 January 2010.^[82] It has a fixed exchange rate of 24.5 São Tomé and Príncipe dobras = 1 euro.

Of the currencies mentioned, the Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark maintains a fixed exchange rate through the currency board system; the Central African CFA franc, the West African CFA franc, the CFP franc, the Cape Verdean escudo, the Comorian franc, and the São Tomé and Príncipe dobra maintain a conventional fixed exchange rate; and the Macedonian denar uses a stabilized arrangement. Additionally, the currency of Morocco, the Moroccan dirham, is pegged to the euro through a basket of currencies. Other countries that, as of December 2023, have exchange rate regimes linked to the euro are Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Botswana, Tunisia, Samoa, Fiji, Libya, Kuwait, Syria, China and Vanuatu.^[83]^[84]^[85]^[86]

Pegging a country's currency to a major currency is regarded as a safety measure, especially for currencies of areas with weak economies, as the euro is seen as a stable currency, prevents runaway inflation, and encourages foreign investment due to its stability.

In total, Template:As of, 182 million people in Africa use a currency pegged to the euro, 27 million people outside the eurozone in Europe, and another 545,000 people on Pacific islands.^[76]

Since 2005, stamps issued by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta have been denominated in euros, although the Order's official currency remains the Maltese scudo.^[87] The Maltese scudo itself is pegged to the euro and is only recognised as legal tender within the Order.

Countries and territories that have their currencies pegged to the euro, by continent: Template:Div col

Europe

Oceania

Template:Flagcountry (CFP franc, Template:ISO 4217)
File:Flag of France.svg New Caledonia (CFP franc)
Template:Flagcountry (CFP franc)

Africa

Template:Flagcountry (West African CFA franc, Template:ISO 4217)
Template:Flagcountry (West African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (Central African CFA franc, Template:ISO 4217)
Template:Flagcountry (Cape Verdean escudo, Template:ISO 4217)
Template:Flagcountry (Central African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (Central African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (Comorian franc, Template:ISO 4217)
Template:Flagcountry (Central African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (Central African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (West African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (West African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (West African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (Moroccan dirham, Template:ISO 4217) (through a basket of currencies)
Template:Flagcountry (West African CFA franc)
File:Flag of Republic of the Congo.svg Republic of the Congo (Central African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (São Tomé and Príncipe dobra, Template:ISO 4217)
Template:Flagcountry (West African CFA franc)
Template:Flagcountry (West African CFA franc)

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Use as reserve currency

Since its introduction in 1999, the euro has been the second most widely held international reserve currency after the U.S. dollar. The share of the euro as a reserve currency increased from 18% in 1999 to 27% in 2008. Over this period, the share held in U.S. dollar fell from 71% to 64% and that held in RMB fell from 6.4% to 3.3%. The euro inherited and built on the status of the Deutsche Mark as the second most important reserve currency. The euro remains underweight as a reserve currency in advanced economies while overweight in emerging and developing economies: according to the International Monetary Fund^[89] the total of euro held as a reserve in the world at the end of 2008 was equal to $1.1 trillion or €850 billion, with a share of 22% of all currency reserves in advanced economies, but a total of 31% of all currency reserves in emerging and developing economies.

The possibility of the euro becoming the first international reserve currency has been debated among economists.^[90] Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave his opinion in September 2007 that it was "absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the US dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency".^[91] In contrast to Greenspan's 2007 assessment, the euro's increase in the share of the worldwide currency reserve basket has slowed considerably since 2007 and since the beginning of the Great Recession and Euro area crisis.^[89]

Economics

File:Euro Monetary Policy.webp

Euro Monetary policy <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" />

Euro Zone inflation year/year

M3 money supply increases

Marginal Lending Facility

Main Refinancing Operations

Deposit Facility Rate

Euribor

Optimal currency area

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In economics, an optimum currency area, or region (OCA or OCR), is a geographical region in which it would maximise economic efficiency to have the entire region share a single currency. There are two models, both proposed by Robert Mundell: the stationary expectations model and the international risk sharing model. Mundell himself advocates the international risk sharing model and thus concludes in favour of the euro.^[92] However, even before the creation of the single currency, there were concerns over diverging economies. Before the late-2000s recession it was considered unlikely that a state would leave the euro or the whole zone would collapse.^[93] However the Greek government-debt crisis led to former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw claiming the eurozone could not last in its current form.^[94] Part of the problem seems to be the rules that were created when the euro was set up. John Lanchester, writing for The New Yorker, explains it: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

The guiding principle of the currency, which opened for business in 1999, were supposed to be a set of rules to limit a country's annual deficit to three per cent of gross domestic product, and the total accumulated debt to sixty per cent of G.D.P. It was a nice idea, but by 2004 the two biggest economies in the euro zone, Germany and France, had broken the rules for three years in a row.^[95]

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Increasing business cycle divergence across the Eurozone over the last decades implies a decreasing optimum currency area.^[96]

Transaction costs and risks

The most obvious benefit of adopting a single currency is to remove the cost of exchanging currency, theoretically allowing businesses and individuals to consummate previously unprofitable trades. For consumers, banks in the eurozone must charge the same for intra-member cross-border transactions as purely domestic transactions for electronic payments (e.g., credit cards, debit cards and cash machine withdrawals).

Financial markets on the continent are expected to be far more liquid and flexible than they were in the past. The reduction in cross-border transaction costs will allow larger banking firms to provide a wider array of banking services that can compete across and beyond the eurozone. However, although transaction costs were reduced, some studies have shown that risk aversion has increased during the last 40 years in the Eurozone.^[97]

Price parity

Another effect of the common European currency is that differences in prices—in particular in price levels—should decrease because of the law of one price. Differences in prices can trigger arbitrage, i.e., speculative trade in a commodity across borders purely to exploit the price differential. Therefore, prices on commonly traded goods are likely to converge, causing inflation in some regions and deflation in others during the transition. Some evidence of this has been observed in specific eurozone markets.^[98]

Macroeconomic stability

Before the introduction of the euro, some countries had successfully contained inflation, which was then seen as a major economic problem, by establishing largely independent central banks. One such bank was the Bundesbank in Germany; the European Central Bank was modelled on the Bundesbank.^[99]

The euro has come under criticism due to its regulation, lack of flexibility and rigidity towards sharing member states on issues such as nominal interest rates.^[100] Many national and corporate bonds denominated in euro are significantly more liquid and have lower interest rates than was historically the case when denominated in national currencies. While increased liquidity may lower the nominal interest rate on the bond, denominating the bond in a currency with low levels of inflation arguably plays a much larger role. A credible commitment to low levels of inflation and a stable debt reduces the risk that the value of the debt will be eroded by higher levels of inflation or default in the future, allowing debt to be issued at a lower nominal interest rate.

There is also a cost in structurally keeping inflation lower than in the United States, United Kingdom, and China. The result is that seen from those countries, the euro has become expensive, making European products increasingly expensive for its largest importers; hence export from the eurozone becomes more difficult.

In general, those in Europe who own large amounts of euro are served by high stability and low inflation.

A monetary union means states in that union lose the main mechanism of recovery of their international competitiveness by weakening (depreciating) their currency. When wages become too high compared to productivity in the exports sector, then these exports become more expensive and they are crowded out from the market within a country and abroad. This drives the fall of employment and output in the exports sector and fall of trade and current account balances. Fall of output and employment in the tradable goods sector may be offset by the growth of non-exports sectors, especially in construction and services. Increased purchases abroad and negative current account balances can be financed without a problem as long as credit is cheap.^[101] The need to finance trade deficit weakens currency, making exports automatically more attractive in a country and abroad. A state in a monetary union cannot use weakening of currency to recover its international competitiveness. To achieve this a state has to reduce prices, including wages (deflation). This could result in high unemployment and lower incomes as it was during the euro area crisis.^[102]

Trade

The euro increased price transparency and stimulated cross-border trade.^[103] A 2009 consensus from the studies of the introduction of the euro concluded that it has increased trade within the eurozone by 5% to 10%,^[104] and a meta-analysis of all available studies on the effect of introduction of the euro on increased trade suggests that the prevalence of positive estimates is caused by publication bias and that the underlying effect may be negligible.^[105] Although a more recent meta-analysis shows that publication bias decreases over time and that there are positive trade effects from the introduction of the euro, as long as results from before 2010 are taken into account. This may be because of the inclusion of the 2008 financial crisis and ongoing integration within the EU.^[106] Furthermore, older studies based on certain methods of analysis of main trends reflecting general cohesion policies in Europe that started before, and continue after implementing the common currency find no effect on trade.^[107]^[108] These results suggest that other policies aimed at European integration might be the source of observed increase in trade. According to Barry Eichengreen, studies disagree on the magnitude of the effect of the euro on trade, but they agree that it did have an effect.^[103]

Investment

Physical investment seems to have increased by 5% in the eurozone due to the introduction.^[109] Regarding foreign direct investment, a study found that the intra-eurozone FDI stocks have increased by about 20% during the first four years of the EMU.^[110] Concerning the effect on corporate investment, there is evidence that the introduction of the euro has resulted in an increase in investment rates and that it has made it easier for firms to access financing in Europe. The euro has most specifically stimulated investment in companies that come from countries that previously had weak currencies. A study found that the introduction of the euro accounts for 22% of the investment rate after 1998 in countries that previously had a weak currency.^[111]

Inflation

File:Euro inflation.webp

Euro Zone inflation

The introduction of the euro has led to extensive discussion about its possible effect on inflation. In the short term, there was a widespread impression in the population of the eurozone that the introduction of the euro had led to an increase in prices, but this impression was not confirmed by general indices of inflation and other studies.^[112]^[113] A study of this paradox found that this was due to an asymmetric effect of the introduction of the euro on prices: while it had no effect on most goods, it had an effect on cheap goods which have seen their price round up after the introduction of the euro. The study found that consumers based their beliefs on inflation of those cheap goods which are frequently purchased.^[114] It has also been suggested that the jump in small prices may be because prior to the introduction, retailers made fewer upward adjustments and waited for the introduction of the euro to do so.^[115] Based on the introduction of the euro as the official currency in Croatia in 2023, the ECB argues that inflation due to a change of currency is a one-time effect of limited impact.^[116]

Exchange rate risk

One of the advantages of the adoption of a common currency is the reduction of the risk associated with changes in currency exchange rates.^[103] It has been found that the introduction of the euro created "significant reductions in market risk exposures for nonfinancial firms both in and outside Europe".^[117] These reductions in market risk "were concentrated in firms domiciled in the eurozone and in non-euro firms with a high fraction of foreign sales or assets in Europe".

Financial integration

The introduction of the euro increased financial integration within Europe, which helped stimulate growth of a European securities market (bond markets are characterized by economies of scale dynamics).^[103] According to a study on this question, it has "significantly reshaped the European financial system, especially with respect to the securities markets [...] However, the real and policy barriers to integration in the retail and corporate banking sectors remain significant, even if the wholesale end of banking has been largely integrated."^[118] Specifically, the euro has significantly decreased the cost of trade in bonds, equity, and banking assets within the eurozone.^[119] On a global level, there is evidence that the introduction of the euro has led to an integration in terms of investment in bond portfolios, with eurozone countries lending and borrowing more between each other than with other countries.^[120] Financial integration made it cheaper for European companies to borrow.^[103] Banks, firms and households could also invest more easily outside of their own country, thus creating greater international risk-sharing.^[103]

Effect on interest rates

File:Long-term interest rates of eurozone countries since 1993.png

Secondary market yields of government bonds with maturities of close to 10 years

As of January 2014, and since the introduction of the euro, interest rates of most member countries (particularly those with a weak currency) have decreased. Some of these countries had the most serious sovereign financing problems.

The effect of declining interest rates, combined with excess liquidity continually provided by the ECB, made it easier for banks within the countries in which interest rates fell the most, and their linked sovereigns, to borrow significant amounts (above the 3% of GDP budget deficit imposed on the eurozone initially) and significantly inflate their public and private debt levels.^[121] Following the 2008 financial crisis, governments in these countries found it necessary to bail out or nationalise their privately held banks to prevent systemic failure of the banking system when underlying hard or financial asset values were found to be grossly inflated and sometimes so nearly worthless there was no liquid market for them.^[122] This further increased the already high levels of public debt to a level the markets began to consider unsustainable, via increasing government bond interest rates, leading to the euro area crisis.

Price convergence

The evidence on the convergence of prices in the eurozone with the introduction of the euro is mixed. Several studies failed to find any evidence of convergence following the introduction of the euro after a phase of convergence in the early 1990s.^[123]^[124] Other studies have found evidence of price convergence,^[125]^[126] in particular for cars.^[127] A possible reason for the divergence between the different studies is that the processes of convergence may not have been linear, slowing down substantially between 2000 and 2003, and resurfacing after 2003 as suggested by a recent study (2009).^[128]

Tourism

A study suggests that the introduction of the euro has had a positive effect on the amount of tourist travel within the EMU, with an increase of 6.5%.^[129]

Exchange rates

Flexible exchange rates

The ECB targets interest rates rather than exchange rates and in general, does not intervene on the foreign exchange rate markets. This is because of the implications of the Mundell–Fleming model, which implies a central bank cannot (without capital controls) maintain interest rate and exchange rate targets simultaneously, because increasing the money supply results in a depreciation of the currency. In the years following the Single European Act, the EU has liberalised its capital markets and, as the ECB has inflation targeting as its monetary policy, the exchange-rate regime of the euro is floating.

Against other major currencies

The euro is the second-most widely held reserve currency after the U.S. dollar. After its introduction on 4 January 1999 its exchange rate against the other major currencies fell reaching its lowest exchange rates in 2000 (3 May vs sterling, 25 October vs the U.S. dollar, 26 October vs Japanese yen). Afterwards it regained and its exchange rate reached its historical highest point in 2008 (15 July vs US dollar, 23 July vs Japanese yen, 29 December vs sterling). With the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, the euro initially fell, to regain later. Despite pressure due to the euro area crisis, the euro remained stable.^[130] In November 2011 the euro's exchange rate index – measured against currencies of the bloc's major trading partners – was trading almost two percent higher on the year, approximately at the same level as it was before the crisis began in 2007.^[131] In mid July 2022, the euro and the US dollar traded at par for a short period of time during an episode of dollar appreciation.^[13] On 8 October 2025, it recorded a new high against the Japanese yen during a long period of depreciation of the latter.^[132]

Template:Multiple image

Current and historical exchange rates against 30 other currencies (European Central Bank): link

Template:Exchange Rate

Political considerations

Besides the economic motivations to the introduction of the euro, its creation was also partly justified as a way to foster a closer sense of joint identity between European citizens. Statements about this goal were for instance made by Wim Duisenberg, European Central Bank Governor, in 1998,^[133] Laurent Fabius, French Finance Minister, in 2000,^[134] and Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, in 2002.^[135] However, 15 years after the introduction of the euro, a study found no evidence that it has had any effect on a shared sense of European identity.^[136]

Public support for the euro by EU member state, according to a Eurobarometer opinion poll in 2024:^[137]

Eurozone

Country	For %	Against %
Template:Flaglist	66	27
Template:Flaglist	82	15
Template:Flaglist	71	24
Template:Flaglist	80	16
Template:Flaglist	90	8
Template:Flaglist	90	7
Template:Flaglist	74	20
Template:Flaglist	81	14
Template:Flaglist	80	16
Template:Flaglist	88	7
Template:Flaglist	70	23
Template:Flaglist	85	8
Template:Flaglist	78	15
Template:Flaglist	90	8
Template:Flaglist	89	8
Template:Flaglist	84	13
Template:Flaglist	81	13
Template:Flaglist	86	8
Template:Flaglist	92	7
Template:Flaglist	83	11

Countries not using the euro

Country	For %	Against %
Template:Flaglist	37	47
Template:Flaglist	30	62
Template:Flaglist	34	58
Template:Flaglist	65	28
Template:Flaglist	36	51
Template:Flaglist	54	37
Template:Flaglist	37	56

Euro in various official EU languages

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The formal titles of the currency are euro for the major unit and cent for the minor (one-hundredth) unit and for official use in most eurozone languages; according to the ECB, all languages should use the same spelling for the nominative singular.^[138] This may contradict normal rules for word formation in some languages.

Official practice for English-language EU legislation is to use the words euro and cent as both singular and plural.^[139] This practice is confirmed by the Directorate-General for Translation,Template:Efn which states that the plural forms euro and cent should also be used in English.^[140] Bulgaria has negotiated an exception; euro in the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet is spelled Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Transliteration) and not *Template:Script (*Template:Transliteration) in all official documents.^[141] In the Greek script the term Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Transliteration) is used; the Greek "cent" coins are denominated in Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Transliteration). The word "euro" is pronounced differently according to pronunciation rules in the individual languages applied; in German Script error: No such module "IPA"., in English Template:IPAc-en, in French Script error: No such module "IPA"., etc.

In summary:

Language(s)	Name	IPA
In most EU languages	euro	Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA". or Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA".
Bulgarian	Script error: No such module "Lang". evro	Script error: No such module "IPA".
German	Script error: No such module "Lang".	Script error: No such module "IPA".
Greek	Script error: No such module "Lang". evró	Script error: No such module "IPA".
Hungarian	Script error: No such module "Lang".	Script error: No such module "IPA". or Script error: No such module "IPA".
Latvian	euro or Script error: No such module "Lang".	Script error: No such module "IPA".
Lithuanian	Script error: No such module "Lang".	Script error: No such module "IPA".
Maltese	Script error: No such module "Lang".	Script error: No such module "IPA".
Slovene	Script error: No such module "Lang".	Script error: No such module "IPA".

For local phonetics, cent, use of plural and amount formatting (€6,00 or 6.00 €), see Language and the euro.

Notes

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References

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External links

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↑ Pop, Valentina (22 March 2010) "Commission frowns on shop signs that say: '€500 notes not accepted Template:'", EU Observer
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↑ George, S. (1998). *An Awkward Partner: Britain in the European Community* (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
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↑ European Debt Crisis Fast Facts, CNN Library (last updated 22 January 2017).
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↑ Buergin, Rainer, "Germany, Juncker Push Back After Moody's Rating Outlook Cuts Template:Webarchive", washpost.bloomberg, 24 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
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[127] Gil-Pareja, Salvador, and Simón Sosvilla-Rivero, "Price Convergence in the European Car Market", FEDEA, November 2005.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Short description|Currency of the European Union}}
-{{hatnote group|
 {{about|the currency}}
 {{redirect|EUR}}
-}}
+{{Distinguish|Eure}}
-{{Good article}}
 {{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
 {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
@@ Line 10: / Line 9: @@
 | name = Euro
 | local_name = <small>{{nobold|1=see also [[Language and the euro|''euro'' in various languages]]}}</small>
-| image_1        = Euro banknotes Europa series.png
+| image_1        = Euro_Series_Banknotes_(2019).jpg
-| image_width_1  = 175px
+| image_width_1  = 250px
-| image_title_1  = [[Euro banknotes]]
+| image_title_1  = [[Euro banknotes]] (obverse)
 | iso_code       = EUR
 | subunit_name_1 = [[1 euro cent coin|euro cent]]
@@ Line 20: / Line 19: @@
 | symbol_subunit_1 = c
 | nickname = The single currency{{efn|1=Official documents and legislation refer to the euro as "the single currency".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31997R1103:EN:HTML |title=Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on certain provisions relating to the introduction of the euro |access-date=1 April 2009 |date=19 June 1997 |work=Official Journal L 162, 19&nbsp;June 1997 P. 0001&nbsp;– 0003 |publisher=European Communities}}</ref>}}
-| frequently_used_banknotes = [[5 euro note|€5]], [[10 euro note|€10]], [[20 euro note|€20]], [[50 euro note|€50]], [[100 euro note|€100]]<ref name="Circulation_report">{{cite web |url=http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004111 |title=ECB Statistical Data Warehouse, Reports>ECB/Eurosystem policy>Banknotes and coins statistics>1.Euro banknotes>1.1 Quantities |publisher=European Central Bank}}</ref>
+| frequently_used_banknotes = [[5 euro note|€5]], [[10 euro note|€10]], [[20 euro note|€20]], [[50 euro note|€50]], [[100 euro note|€100]]<ref name="Circulation_report">{{cite web |url=http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004111 |title=ECB Statistical Data Warehouse, Reports>ECB/Eurosystem policy>Banknotes and coins statistics>1.Euro banknotes>1.1 Quantities |publisher=European Central Bank |access-date=15 April 2019 |archive-date=12 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112140055/https://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004111 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 | rarely_used_banknotes = [[200 euro note|€200]], [[500 euro note|€500]]<ref name="Circulation_report"/>
 | frequently_used_coins = [[1 euro cent coin|1c]], [[2 euro cent coin|2c]], [[5 euro cent coin|5c]], [[10 euro cent coin|10c]], [[20 euro cent coin|20c]], [[50 euro cent coin|50c]], [[1 euro coin|€1]], [[2 euro coin|€2]]
-| rarely_used_coins = [[1 euro cent coin|1c]], [[2 euro cent coin|2c]] (Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Slovakia<ref>{{cite web|first1=Alistair|last1=Walsh|access-date=2019-11-04|title=Italy to stop producing 1- and 2-cent coins |url=https://www.dw.com/en/italy-to-stop-producing-1-and-2-cent-coins/a-39020206|date=29 May 2017|publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=|last1=|access-date=17 December 2023|title=Po 1. júli 2022 budú končiť na Slovensku jedno a dvojcentové mince |trans-title=One and two cent coins will end in Slovakia after 1 July  2022 |url=https://www.bystricoviny.sk/spravy/po-1-juli-2022-budu-koncit-na-slovensku-jedno-a-dvojcentove-mince/|date=29 May 2017|website=bystricoviny.sk|language=sk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Euro kasutusele võtmise ja eurodes tehtavate sularahamaksete arveldamise seadus–Riigi Teataja |trans-title=Act on the Introduction of the Euro and Settlement of Cash Payments in Euros–Riigi Teataja |url=https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/130052024016 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=www.riigiteataja.ee |language=et}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Paverskite smulkias monetas istorijos dalimi: proginė moneta, skirta gynybai, laukia Jūsų! |url=https://www.lb.lt/lt/paverskite-smulkias-monetas-istorijos-dalimi-progine-moneta-skirta-gynybai-laukia-jusu |date=2025-04-11 |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=[[Bank of Lithuania]] |language=lt}}</ref>)
+| rarely_used_coins = [[1 euro cent coin|1c]], [[2 euro cent coin|2c]] (Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Slovakia)<ref>{{cite web|first1=Alistair|last1=Walsh|access-date=2019-11-04|title=Italy to stop producing 1- and 2-cent coins |url=https://www.dw.com/en/italy-to-stop-producing-1-and-2-cent-coins/a-39020206|date=29 May 2017|publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=|last1=|access-date=17 December 2023|title=Po 1. júli 2022 budú končiť na Slovensku jedno a dvojcentové mince |trans-title=One and two cent coins will end in Slovakia after 1 July 2022 |url=https://www.bystricoviny.sk/spravy/po-1-juli-2022-budu-koncit-na-slovensku-jedno-a-dvojcentove-mince/|date=29 May 2017|website=bystricoviny.sk|language=sk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Euro kasutusele võtmise ja eurodes tehtavate sularahamaksete arveldamise seadus–Riigi Teataja |trans-title=Act on the Introduction of the Euro and Settlement of Cash Payments in Euros–Riigi Teataja |url=https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/130052024016 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=www.riigiteataja.ee |language=et}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Paverskite smulkias monetas istorijos dalimi: proginė moneta, skirta gynybai, laukia Jūsų! |url=https://www.lb.lt/lt/paverskite-smulkias-monetas-istorijos-dalimi-progine-moneta-skirta-gynybai-laukia-jusu |date=2025-04-11 |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=[[Bank of Lithuania]] |language=lt}}</ref>
 | subunit_ratio_1 = {{frac|100}}
 | subunit_inline_note_1 = ([[Language and the euro|Name varies by language]])
@@ Line 36: / Line 35: @@
 | printer = see {{section link|Euro|Banknote printing|nopage=y}}
 | mint = [[List of euro mints|List of mints]]
-| inflation_rate = 1.9% (May 2025)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/macroeconomic_and_sectoral/hicp/html/index.en.html | title=Inflation and consumer prices}}</ref>
+| inflation_rate = 2.2% (September 2025)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/macroeconomic_and_sectoral/hicp/html/index.en.html |website=European Central Bank | title=Inflation and consumer prices}}</ref>
 | pegged_by = see [[#Currencies pegged to the euro|§&nbsp;Pegged currencies]]
 | inflation_source_date = [https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Inflation_in_the_euro_area ec.europa.eu]
@@ Line 46: / Line 45: @@
 The '''euro''' ([[currency symbol|symbol]]: '''[[euro sign|€]]'''; [[ISO 4217|currency code]]: '''EUR''') is the official [[currency]] of 20 of the {{EUnum}} [[Member state of the European Union|member states]] of the [[European Union]]. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the [[eurozone]]. The euro is divided into 100 [[1 euro cent coin|euro cents]].<ref name="EC Euro Area">{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/index_en.htm |title=The euro |access-date=2 January 2019 |work=[[European Commission]] website}}</ref><ref name="EC Euro1 euro cent coin Area 2">{{cite web |access-date=2019-01-02 |title=What is the euro area? |url=https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/euro-area/what-euro-area_en |website=European Commission website}}</ref>
-The currency is also used officially by the [[institutions of the European Union]], by [[International status and usage of the euro|four European microstates]] that are not EU members,<ref name="EC Euro1 euro cent coin Area 2" /> the [[British Overseas Territory]] of [[Akrotiri and Dhekelia]], as well as unilaterally by [[Montenegro]] and [[Kosovo]]. Outside Europe, a number of [[special territories of EU members]] also use the euro as their currency.
+The currency is also used officially by the [[institutions of the European Union]], by [[International status and usage of the euro|four European microstates]] that are not EU members,<ref name="EC Euro1 euro cent coin Area 2" /> and the [[British Overseas Territory]] of [[Akrotiri and Dhekelia]], as well as unilaterally by [[Montenegro]] and [[Kosovo]]. Outside Europe, a number of [[special territories of EU members]] also use the euro as their currency.
-The euro is used by 350 million people in Europe and additionally, over 200&nbsp;million people worldwide use [[currencies pegged to the euro]].<ref name="population_jan_2023">{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00001/default/table?lang=en |title = Population on 1 January|publisher=[[Eurostat]]}}</ref> It is the second-largest [[reserve currency]] as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the [[United States dollar]].<ref>{{cite web|title=IMF Data – Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserve – At a Glance|publisher=International Monetary Fund|url=http://data.imf.org/?sk=E6A5F467-C14B-4AA8-9F6D-5A09EC4E62A4|date=23 December 2022|access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Foreign exchange turnover in April 2013: preliminary global results |url=http://www.bis.org/publ/rpfx13fx.pdf |publisher=Bank for International Settlements |access-date=7 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bis.org/publ/rpfxf07t.pdf |title=Triennial Central Bank Survey 2007 |publisher=BIS |date=19 December 2007 |access-date=25 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/14350/1/MPRA_paper_14350.pdf |last1=Aristovnik |first1=Aleksander |last2=Čeč |first2=Tanja |title=Compositional Analysis of Foreign Currency Reserves in the 1999–2007 Period. The Euro vs. The Dollar As Leading Reserve Currency|publisher=Munich Personal RePEc Archive, Paper No. 14350 |date=30 March 2010 |access-date=27 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Boesler |first=Matthew |title=There Are Only Two Real Threats to the US Dollar's Status As The International Reserve Currency |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/dollar-as-international-reserve-currency-2013-11 |access-date=8 December 2013 |newspaper=Business Insider |date=11 November 2013}}</ref> {{As of|2019|12|post=,}} with more than €1.3&nbsp;trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004112 |title=1.2 Euro banknotes, values |access-date=23 January 2020 |publisher=European Central Bank Statistical Data Warehouse|date=14 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004114|title=2.2 Euro coins, values|access-date=23 January 2020 |publisher=European Central Bank Statistical Data Warehouse|date=14 January 2020}}</ref>
+The euro is used by 350 million people in Europe, and over 200&nbsp;million people worldwide use [[currencies pegged to the euro]].<ref name="population_jan_2023">{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00001/default/table?lang=en |title = Population on 1 January|publisher=[[Eurostat]]}}</ref> It is the second-largest [[reserve currency]] as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the [[United States dollar]].<ref>{{cite web|title=IMF Data – Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserve – At a Glance|publisher=International Monetary Fund|url=http://data.imf.org/?sk=E6A5F467-C14B-4AA8-9F6D-5A09EC4E62A4|date=23 December 2022|access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Foreign exchange turnover in April 2013: preliminary global results |url=http://www.bis.org/publ/rpfx13fx.pdf |publisher=Bank for International Settlements |access-date=7 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bis.org/publ/rpfxf07t.pdf |title=Triennial Central Bank Survey 2007 |publisher=BIS |date=19 December 2007 |access-date=25 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/14350/1/MPRA_paper_14350.pdf |last1=Aristovnik |first1=Aleksander |last2=Čeč |first2=Tanja |title=Compositional Analysis of Foreign Currency Reserves in the 1999–2007 Period. The Euro vs. The Dollar As Leading Reserve Currency|publisher=Munich Personal RePEc Archive, Paper No. 14350 |date=30 March 2010 |access-date=27 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Boesler |first=Matthew |title=There Are Only Two Real Threats to the US Dollar's Status As The International Reserve Currency |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/dollar-as-international-reserve-currency-2013-11 |access-date=8 December 2013 |newspaper=Business Insider |date=11 November 2013}}</ref> {{As of|2019|12|post=,}} with more than €1.3&nbsp;trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004112 |title=1.2 Euro banknotes, values |access-date=23 January 2020 |publisher=European Central Bank Statistical Data Warehouse |date=14 January 2020 |archive-date=22 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122065037/https://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004112 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004114|title=2.2 Euro coins, values|access-date=23 January 2020|publisher=European Central Bank Statistical Data Warehouse|date=14 January 2020|archive-date=22 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122070136/https://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/reports.do?node=1000004114|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 The name ''euro'' was officially adopted on 16 December 1995 in [[Madrid]].<ref name="madrid1995">{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/summits/mad1_en.htm |title=Madrid European Council (12/95): Conclusions |publisher=European Parliament |access-date=14 February 2009}}</ref> The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an [[unit of account|accounting currency]] on 1 January 1999, replacing the former [[European Currency Unit]] (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$1.1743 at the time). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members, and by March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ecb.int/euro/changeover/2002/html/index.en.html| title = Initial changeover (2002)| publisher=European Central Bank| access-date =5 March 2011}}</ref>
-Between December 1999 and December 2002, the euro traded below the US dollar, but has since traded near parity with or above the US dollar, peaking at US$1.60 on 18 July 2008 and since then returning near to its original issue rate. On 13 July 2022, the two currencies hit parity for the first time in nearly two decades due in part to the [[Economic impact of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref name="NYTimes-2022">{{Cite news |date=2022-07-12 |title=Euro Falls Near Parity With Dollar, a Threshold Watched Closely by Investors |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/business/euro-dollar-parity.html |access-date=2022-07-13 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Then, in September 2022, the US dollar again had a face value higher than the euro, at around US$0.95 per euro.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-09-23 |title=Euro fällt zum US-Dollar auf 20-Jahrestief |url=https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/euro-faellt-zum-us-dollar-auf-20-jahrestief-a-327dab06-b9ed-40bf-9b48-502c9dde1607 |access-date=2024-07-10 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |issn=2195-1349}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Euro (EUR) To US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rate History for 2022 |url=https://www.exchange-rates.org/exchange-rate-history/eur-usd-2022 |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=www.exchange-rates.org |language=en}}</ref>
+Between December 1999 and December 2002, the euro traded below parity with the US dollar, but it has since traded near or above parity with the US dollar. On 13 July 2022, the two currencies briefly hit parity for the first time in nearly two decades, due in part to the [[Economic impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref name="NYTimes-2022">{{Cite news |date=2022-07-12 |title=Euro Falls Near Parity With Dollar, a Threshold Watched Closely by Investors |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/business/euro-dollar-parity.html |access-date=2022-07-13 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In the ten years ending 30 September 2025, the rate has averaged at about $1.00:€0.92.<ref>{{cite web |title=US Dollar to Euro Exchange Rate Chart |website=XE.com |url=https://www.xe.com/en-gb/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=EUR&view=10Y |access-date=1 October 2025}}</ref>
-==Characteristics==
+== Characteristics ==
-===Administration===
+=== Administration ===
 {{Main|European Central Bank|Maastricht Treaty|Eurogroup}}
 [[File:Seat of the European Central Bank and Frankfurt Skyline at dawn 20150422 1.jpg|thumb|260px|Seat of the [[European Central Bank]] in [[Frankfurt]], [[Germany]]]]
-The euro is managed and administered by the [[European Central Bank]] and the [[Eurosystem]], composed of the [[central bank]]s of the eurozone countries. As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set [[monetary policy]]. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of [[euro banknotes]] and [[euro coins|coins]] in all member states, and the operation of the eurozone payment systems.
+The euro is managed and administered by the [[European Central Bank]] and the [[Eurosystem]], composed of the [[central bank]]s of the eurozone countries.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Euro |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/html/index.en.html |website=European Central Bank |access-date=2023-10-04}}</ref> As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set [[monetary policy]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12012E%2FTXT |website=EUR-Lex |access-date=2023-10-04}}</ref> The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of [[euro banknotes]] and [[euro coins|coins]] in all member states,<ref>{{cite web |title=Banknotes and Coins |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/notes_coins/html/index.en.html |website=European Central Bank |access-date=2023-10-04}}</ref> and the operation of the eurozone payment systems.<ref>{{cite web |title=Payment Systems |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/html/index.en.html |website=European Central Bank |access-date=2023-10-04}}</ref>
 Through their ratification of the 1992 [[Maastricht Treaty]] (or subsequent [[Treaty of Accession|treaties of accession]]), most EU member states committed to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary [[Euro convergence criteria|convergence criteria]], although not all participating states have done so. [[Denmark]] has negotiated exemptions,<ref>{{cite web|title=The Euro |publisher=European Commission|url=http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/index_en.htm |access-date=29 January 2009}}</ref> while Sweden (which joined the EU in 1995, after the Maastricht Treaty was signed) turned down the euro in a [[2003 Swedish euro referendum|2003 non-binding referendum]], and has circumvented its commitment to adopt the euro by not meeting the monetary and budgetary requirements. All nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. The Maastricht Treaty was amended by the 2001 [[Treaty of Nice]], which closed the gaps and loopholes in the Maastricht and Rome Treaties.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nice |first1=Treaty of |title=Treaty of Nice |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/en/in-the-past/the-parliament-and-the-treaties/treaty-of-nice |website=About Parliament |publisher= European Parliament |access-date=7 May 2021}}</ref>
-==Countries that use the euro==
+== Countries that use the euro ==
 {{Further|Euro#Direct and indirect usage}}
-The euro is the official currency of 43 countries and territories:
+The euro is the official currency of 43 countries and territories: <!-- This is a list of countries and territories where the euro is legal tender. It does not include countries and territories widely accept the euro unofficially or tourist destinations where shops and hotels accept it (or even prefer it) for payment. -->
-===Eurozone members===
+=== Eurozone members ===
 {{main|Eurozone}}
 The 20 participating members are:<br />
@@ Line 73: / Line 72: @@
 * {{Flagcountry|Belgium}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Croatia}}
-* {{Flagcountry|Cyprus}}{{efn|[[Northern Cyprus]], where the government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control, uses the [[Turkish lira]].}}
+* {{Flagcountry|Cyprus}}{{efn|excluding [[Northern Cyprus]]}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Estonia}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Finland}}
-* {{Flagcountry|France}}{{efn|Including outermost regions of [[French Guiana]], [[Guadeloupe]], [[Martinique]], [[Mayotte]], [[Réunion]], [[Saint Barthélemy]], [[Collectivity of Saint Martin|Saint Martin]], and [[Saint Pierre and Miquelon]].}}
+* {{Flagcountry|France}}{{efn|excluding [[French Polynesia]], [[New Caledonia]] and [[Wallis and Futuna]]}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Germany}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Greece}}
@@ Line 85: / Line 84: @@
 * {{Flagcountry|Luxembourg}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Malta}}
-* {{Flagcountry|Netherlands}}{{efn|Only the European part of the country is part of the European Union and uses the euro. The [[Caribbean Netherlands]] introduced the [[United States dollar]] in 2011 following the dissolution of the [[Netherlands Antilles]] (which used the [[Netherlands Antillean guilder]]). [[Curaçao]], [[Sint Maarten]] and [[Aruba]] have their own currencies, which are pegged to the dollar.}}
+* {{Flagcountry|Netherlands}}{{efn|excluding [[Dutch Caribbean]]}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Portugal}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Slovakia}}
@@ Line 92: / Line 91: @@
 {{div col end}}
-===[[Special territories of members of the European Economic Area]]===
+=== [[Special territories of members of the European Economic Area]] ===
 {{div col|colwidth=40em}}
 '''[[Special territories of members of the European Economic Area#Outermost Regions|EU Outermost Regions]]:'''
 {{colbegin|colwidth=15em}}
-*{{Flagcountry|France}}
+* {{Flagcountry|France}}
-**{{Flagcountry|French Guiana}}
+** {{Flagcountry|French Guiana}}
-**{{Flagcountry|Guadeloupe}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Guadeloupe}}
-**{{flagicon image|Flag-of-Martinique.svg|size=23px}} [[Martinique]]
+** {{flagicon image|Flag-of-Martinique.svg|size=23px}} [[Martinique]]
-**{{Flagcountry|Saint Martin}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Mayotte}}
-**{{Flagcountry|Mayotte}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Réunion}}
-**{{Flagcountry|Réunion}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Saint Martin}}
-*{{Flagcountry|Portugal}}
+* {{Flagcountry|Portugal}}
-**{{Flagcountry|Azores}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Azores}}
-**{{Flagcountry|Madeira}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Madeira}}
-*{{Flagcountry|Spain}}
+* {{Flagcountry|Spain}}
-**{{Flagcountry|Canary Islands}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Canary Islands}}
 {{colend}}
 '''[[Special territories of members of the European Economic Area#Overseas countries and territories|Overseas Territories]]:'''
-*{{Flagcountry|France}}
+* {{Flagcountry|France}}
-**{{Flagcountry|French Southern and Antarctic Lands}}
+** {{Flagcountry|French Southern and Antarctic Lands}}
-**{{flagicon|Saint Barthélemy|local}} [[Saint Barthélemy]]
+** {{flagicon|Saint Barthélemy|local}} [[Saint Barthélemy]]
-**{{flagicon|Saint Pierre and Miquelon|local}} [[Saint Pierre and Miquelon]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:1999:030:0029:0030:EN:PDF |title=By agreement of the EU Council |access-date=30 May 2010}}</ref>
+** {{flagicon|Saint Pierre and Miquelon|local}} [[Saint Pierre and Miquelon]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:1999:030:0029:0030:EN:PDF |title=By agreement of the EU Council |access-date=30 May 2010}}</ref>
 {{div col end}}
 '''[[Special territories of members of the European Economic Area#Special cases|Special Autonomous Territories]]:'''
 * {{Flagcountry|Finland}}
-**{{Flagcountry|Åland}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Åland}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Greece}}
-**{{Flagicon image|Flag of the Greek Orthodox Church.svg}} [[Monastic community of Mount Athos|Mount Athos]]
+** {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Greek Orthodox Church.svg}} [[Monastic community of Mount Athos|Mount Athos]]
 * {{Flagcountry|Spain}}
-**{{Flagcountry|Ceuta}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Ceuta}}
-**{{Flagcountry|Melilla}}
+** {{Flagcountry|Melilla}}
-===Other users===
+=== Other users ===
 '''Microstates with a monetary agreement:'''
 {{div col|colwidth=20em}}
@@ Line 146: / Line 145: @@
 {{div col end}}
-==EU members not using the euro ==
+== EU members not using the euro ==
 {{main|Enlargement of the eurozone|Currencies of the European Union}}
 {{Anchor|EUnoEZ}}
+=== Acceding to the eurozone  ===
+{{See also|Bulgaria and the euro}}
+* {{Flagcountry|Bulgaria}}: Bulgaria has been approved to replace the [[Bulgarian lev]] with the euro on 1 January 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bulgaria ready to use the euro from 1 January 2026: Council takes final steps |url=https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2025/07/08/bulgaria-ready-to-use-the-euro-from-1-january-2026-council-takes-final-steps/ |access-date=8 July 2025 |website=European Council}}</ref>
 === Committed to adopt the euro <span class="anchor" id="Obliged to adopt the euro"></span> ===
-{{See also|Bulgaria and the euro|Czech Republic and the euro|Hungary and the euro|Poland and the euro|Romania and the euro|Sweden and the euro}}
+{{See also|Czech Republic and the euro|Hungary and the euro|Poland and the euro|Romania and the euro|Sweden and the euro}}
-The following six [[European Union|EU]] member states, representing 95 million people, committed themselves in their respective [[Treaty of Accession]] to adopt the euro. However they do not have a deadline to do so and can delay the process by deliberately not complying with the convergence criteria (such as by not meeting the convergence criteria to join ERM II). Bulgaria and Romania are actively working to adopt the euro, while the four remaining states do not have a migration plan in progress.
+The following five [[European Union|EU]] member states, representing almost 90 million people, committed themselves in their respective [[Treaty of Accession]] to adopt the euro. However they do not have a deadline to do so and can delay the process by deliberately not complying with the convergence criteria (such as by not meeting the convergence criteria to join ERM II).
-* {{Flagcountry|Bulgaria}}: Bulgaria is expected to replace the [[Bulgarian lev]] with the euro on 1 January 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |title=EU gives Bulgaria green light to adopt euro from start of 2026 |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/eu-gives-bulgaria-green-light-adopt-euro-start-2026-2025-06-04/ |access-date=4 June 2025 |website=Reuters}}</ref>
 * {{Flagcountry|Czechia}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Hungary}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Poland}}
-* {{Flagcountry|Romania}}: The Romanian government aims to replace the [[Romanian leu]] with the euro by 2029.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Romania to set 2029 as deadline for adopting euro |url=https://www.romania-insider.com/ro-euro-adoption-deadline-2029-dec-2021 |access-date=16 December 2021 |website=Romania Insider}}</ref><ref name="RO2029-ref1">{{cite web | last=Smarandache | first=Maria |url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/romania-wants-to-push-euro-adoption-by-2026/ | title=Romania wants to push euro adoption by 2026 |website=Euractiv.com | date=20 March 2023 |access-date=27 February 2024}}</ref>
+* {{Flagcountry|Romania}}
 * {{Flagcountry|Sweden}}
-===Opt-outs===
+=== Opt-outs ===
 {{See also|Denmark and the euro|United Kingdom and the euro}}
 The [[Maastricht Treaty]] of 1992 included protocols on Denmark and the United Kingdom, giving them opt-outs with the right to decide if and when they would adopt the euro.<ref name="UK">{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199798/ldhansrd/vo980312/text/80312-21.htm|title=Volume: 587, Part: 120 (12 Mar 1998: Column 391, Baroness Williams of Crosby)|author=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]|date=12 March 1998|work=[[House of Lords]] [[Hansard]]|access-date=13 October 2007}}</ref>
-* {{Flagcountry|Denmark}}: The government of Denmark negotiated an [[Danish opt-outs from the European Union|opt-out]] to retain usage of the [[Danish krone]], but the currency is pegged to the euro via the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism|ERM II]], the European Union's exchange rate mechanism.
+* {{Flagcountry|Denmark}}: The government of Denmark negotiated [[Danish opt-outs from the European Union|an opt-out]] to retain usage of the [[Danish krone]], but the currency is pegged to the euro via the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism|ERM II]], the European Union's exchange rate mechanism.
-* {{Flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: Prior to its [[Brexit|withdrawal from the European Union]] in 2020, the United Kingdom negotiated an [[United Kingdom opt-outs from EU legislation#Economic and monetary union|opt-out]] to retain usage of the [[pound sterling]].
+* {{Flagcountry|United Kingdom}}: Prior to its [[Brexit|withdrawal from the European Union]] in 2020, the United Kingdom negotiated [[United Kingdom opt-outs from EU legislation#Economic and monetary union|an opt-out]] to retain usage of the [[pound sterling]].
-==Coins and banknotes==
+== Coins and banknotes ==
-===Coins===
+=== Coins ===
 {{Main|Euro coins}}
 {{See also|List of Euro coin series|Identifying marks on euro coins}}
@@ Line 177: / Line 178: @@
 The euro is divided into 100 [[cent (currency)|cents]] (also referred to as ''euro cents'', especially when distinguishing them from other currencies, and referred to as such on the common side of all cent coins). In Community legislative acts the plural forms of ''euro'' and ''cent'' are spelled without the ''s'', notwithstanding normal English usage.<ref name="ec.europa.eu">{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/cash/symbol/index_en.htm |title= How to use the euro name and symbol |publisher=European Commission |access-date=7 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/publication6336_en.pdf |title=Spelling of the words "euro" and "cent" in official Community languages as used in Community Legislative acts |access-date=26 November 2008 |author=European Commission }}</ref> Otherwise, normal English plurals are used,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf |title=English Style Guide: A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission |access-date=16 November 2008 |author=European Commission Directorate-General for Translation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205092625/http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf |archive-date=5 December 2010 }}; {{cite web |url=http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-370303.htm |title=Interinstitutional style guide, 7.3.3. Rules for expressing monetary units |access-date=16 November 2008 |author=European Union }}</ref> with many [[Linguistic issues concerning the euro|local variations]] such as ''centime'' in France.
-All circulating coins have a ''common side'' showing the denomination or value, and a map in the background. Due to the [[Languages of the European Union|linguistic plurality in the European Union]], the Latin alphabet version of ''euro'' is used (as opposed to the less common Greek or Cyrillic) and [[Arabic numerals]] (other text is used on national sides in national languages, but other text on the common side is avoided). For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, the map only showed the 15 member states of the union as of 2002. Beginning in 2007 or 2008 (depending on the country), the old map was replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the [[European Union|EU]].<ref name="europa-common_sides">{{cite web |title=Common sides of euro coins |url=https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/euro/euro-coins-and-notes/euro-coins/common-sides-euro-coins_en |website=Europa |publisher=European Commission |access-date=30 December 2023}}</ref> The 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, however, keep their old design, showing a geographical map of Europe with the [[European Union|EU]] member states as of 2002, raised somewhat above the rest of the map. All common sides were designed by [[Luc Luycx]]. The coins also have a ''national side'' showing an image specifically chosen by the country that issued the coin. Euro coins from any member state may be freely used in any nation that has adopted the euro.
+All circulating coins have a ''common side'' showing the denomination or value and a map in the background. Due to the [[Languages of the European Union|linguistic plurality in the European Union]], the Latin alphabet version of ''euro'' is used (as opposed to the less common Greek or Cyrillic) and [[Arabic numerals]] (other text is used on national sides in national languages, but other text on the common side is avoided). For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, the map only showed the 15 member states of the union as of 2002. Beginning in 2007 or 2008 (depending on the country), the old map was replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the [[European Union|EU]].<ref name="europa-common_sides">{{cite web |title=Common sides of euro coins |url=https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/euro/euro-coins-and-notes/euro-coins/common-sides-euro-coins_en |website=Europa |publisher=European Commission |access-date=30 December 2023}}</ref> The 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, however, keep their old design, showing a geographical map of Europe with the [[European Union|EU]] member states as of 2002, raised somewhat above the rest of the map. All common sides were designed by [[Luc Luycx]]. The coins also have a ''national side'' showing an image specifically chosen by the country that issued the coin. Euro coins from any member state may be freely used in any nation that has adopted the euro.
 The coins are issued in denominations of [[2 euro coins|€2]], [[1 euro coins|€1]], [[50 euro cent coin|50c]], [[20 euro cent coin|20c]], [[10 euro cent coin|10c]], [[5 euro cent coin|5c]], [[2 euro cent coin|2c]], and [[1 euro cent coin|1c]]. To avoid the use of the two smallest coins, some cash transactions are rounded to the nearest five cents in the Netherlands and Ireland<ref>{{cite web|url=http://neurope.eu/article/ireland-to-round-to-nearest-5-cents-starting-october-28/|title=Ireland to round to nearest 5 cents starting October 28|date=27 October 2015|access-date=17 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306012032/http://neurope.eu/article/ireland-to-round-to-nearest-5-cents-starting-october-28/|archive-date=6 March 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.centralbank.ie/paycurr/Pages/rounding.aspx|title=Rounding |website= Central Bank of Ireland}}</ref> (by voluntary agreement) and in Finland and Italy (by law).<ref>{{cite web|author=European Commission|author-link=European Commission|title=Euro cash: five and familiar |url=http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/een/005/article_4324_en.htm |publisher=[[Europa (web portal)|Europa]] |date = January 2007|access-date=26 January 2009}}</ref> This practice is discouraged by the commission, as is the practice of certain shops of refusing to accept high-value euro notes.<ref>Pop, Valentina (22 March 2010) [http://euobserver.com/?aid=29737 "Commission frowns on shop signs that say: '€500 notes not accepted{{'"}}], ''[[EU Observer]]''</ref>
@@ Line 192: / Line 193: @@
 Vatican euro coins with images of [[Pope Francis]] and [[Pope Benedict XVI]]
-====Coin minting====
+==== Coin minting ====
 A number of institutions are authorised to mint euro coins:
 {{div col|colwidth=25em}}
@@ Line 214: / Line 215: @@
 {{div col end}}
-===Banknotes===
+=== Banknotes ===
 {{Main|Euro banknotes}}
-[[File:Various Euro banknotes.jpg|thumb|Euro banknotes of various denominations]]
+[[File:Various Euro banknotes.jpg|thumb|First series of Euro banknotes of various denominations]]
 The design for the [[euro banknotes]] has common designs on both sides. The design was created by the Austrian designer [[Robert Kalina]].<ref name="euro96">{{cite web|url=http://www.ecb.int/euro/changeover/2002/photos/html/image12.en.html |title=Robert Kalina, designer of the euro banknotes, at work at the Oesterreichische Nationalbank in Vienna |publisher=European Central Bank |access-date=30 May 2010}}</ref> Notes are issued in [[500 euro note|€500]], [[200 euro note|€200]], [[100 euro note|€100]], [[50 euro note|€50]], [[20 euro note|€20]], [[10 euro note|€10]], and [[5 euro note|€5]]. Each banknote has its own colour and is dedicated to an artistic period of European architecture. The front of the note features windows or gateways while the back has bridges, symbolising links between states in the union and with the future. While the designs are supposed to be devoid of any identifiable characteristics, the initial designs by Robert Kalina were of specific bridges, including the [[Rialto]] and the [[Pont de Neuilly]], and were subsequently rendered more generic; the final designs still bear very close similarities to their specific prototypes; thus they are not truly generic. The monuments looked similar enough to different national monuments to please everyone.<ref>{{cite news|last=Schmid |first=John |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/03/news/03iht-euro_ed3_.html |title=Etching the Notes of a New European Identity|work=International Herald Tribune |date=3 August 2001 |access-date=29 May 2009}}</ref>
@@ Line 224: / Line 225: @@
 In December 2021, the ECB announced its plans to redesign euro banknotes by 2024. A theme advisory group, made up of one member from each euro area country, was selected to submit theme proposals to the ECB. The proposals will be voted on by the public; a design competition will also be held.<ref>{{cite journal|title=ECB to redesign euro banknotes by 2024 |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2021/html/ecb.pr211206~a9e0ba2198.en.html |access-date=7 December 2021 |date=6 December 2021|website=European Central Bank}}</ref>
-====Issuing modalities for banknotes====
+==== Issuing modalities for banknotes ====
 Since 1 January 2002, the national central banks (NCBs) and the [[European Central Bank|ECB]] have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis.<ref name="Scheller">{{Cite book|url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/ecbhistoryrolefunctions2006en.pdf|quote=Since 1 January 2002, the NCBs and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. |title=The European Central Bank: History, Role and Functions|first=Hanspeter K. |last=Scheller |edition=2nd |date= 2006|isbn=978-92-899-0027-0 |page=103|publisher=European Central Bank }}</ref> Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the total value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem.<ref name="Scheller"/> In practice, the ECB's banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs, thereby incurring matching liabilities vis-à-vis the ECB. These liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The other 92% of euro banknotes are issued by the NCBs in proportion to their respective shares of the ECB capital key,<ref name="Scheller"/> calculated using national share of European Union (EU) population and national share of EU GDP, equally weighted.<ref>
 {{cite web
@@ Line 249: / Line 250: @@
 | [[Classical architecture|Classical]]
 | 8th BC–4th AD
-| Top right
+| rowspan="6" | Top right
 |-
 | style="text-align:center;"| [[File:EUR 10 obverse (2014 issue).png|border|91px]]
@@ Line 260: / Line 261: @@
 | [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]]
 | 11–12th
-| Top right
 |-
 | style="text-align:center;"| [[File:The Europa series 20 € obverse side.jpg|border|95px]]
@@ Line 271: / Line 271: @@
 | [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]]
 | 13–14th
-| Top right
 |- style="height:62px"
 | style="text-align:center;"| [[File:The Europa series 50 € obverse side.png|border|100px]]
@@ Line 282: / Line 281: @@
 | [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]]
 | 15–16th
-| Top right
 |- style="height:62px"
 | style="text-align:center;"| [[File:The Europa series 100 € obverse side.jpg|border|105px]]
 | style="text-align:center;"| [[File:The Europa series 100 € reverse side.jpg|border|105px]]
 ! [[100 euro note|€100]]{{anchor|100}}
-| 2019
+| rowspan="2" | 2019
 | style="text-align:center;"| 147 × 77&nbsp;mm
 |  style="text-align:center; background:#8cd653;" colspan="2"|
@@ Line 293: / Line 291: @@
 | [[Baroque]] & [[Rococo]]
 | 17–18th
-| Top right
 |- style="height:62px"
 | style="text-align:center;"| [[File:The Europa series 200 € obverse side.jpg|border|109px]]
 | style="text-align:center;"| [[File:The Europa series 200 € reverse side.jpg|border|109px]]
 ! [[200 euro note|€200]]{{anchor|200}}
-| 2019
 | style="text-align:center;"| 153 × 77&nbsp;mm
-| style="text-align:center; background:#ffcc33;"" colspan="2"|
+| style="text-align:center; background:#B29705;"" colspan="2"|
-| Yellow<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/denominations/html/index.en.html#es2-200|title=Denominations Europa series €200|date=13 September 2018 |access-date=2019-06-17|publisher=European Central Bank}}</ref>
+| Yellow-brown<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/denominations/html/index.en.html#es2-200|title=Denominations Europa series €200|date=13 September 2018 |access-date=2019-06-17|publisher=European Central Bank}}</ref>
 | [[Art Nouveau]]
 | 19th
-| Top right
 |-
 |colspan="11"|{{Standard banknote table notice|standard_scale=Y|BrE=Y}}
 |}
-====Banknote printing====
+==== Banknote printing ====
 Member states are authorised to print or to commission bank note printing. {{as of|November 2022}}, these are the printers:
 {{div col|colwidth=25em}}
@@ Line 320: / Line 315: @@
 * [[De La Rue]]
 * [[Royal Mint (Spain)|Real Casa de la Moneda]]
-* [[François-Charles Oberthür]]
+* Oberthur Fiduciaire
 * [[Giesecke+Devrient]]
 * [[Joh. Enschedé|Royal Joh. Enschedé]]
@@ Line 328: / Line 323: @@
 {{div col end}}
-===Payments clearing, electronic funds transfer===
+=== Payments clearing, electronic funds transfer ===
 {{Main|Single Euro Payments Area}}
 Capital within the EU may be transferred in any amount from one state to another. All intra-Union transfers in euro are treated as domestic transactions and bear the corresponding domestic transfer costs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32001R2560:EN:HTML|title=Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2001 on cross-border payments in euro |publisher=EUR-lex&nbsp;– European Communities, Publications office, Official Journal L 344, 28 December 2001 P. 0013&nbsp;– 0016 |access-date=26 December 2008}}</ref> This includes all member states of the EU, even those outside the eurozone providing the transactions are carried out in euro.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.euro.gov.uk/crossborder.asp |title=Cross border payments in the EU, Euro Information, The Official Treasury Euro Resource |publisher=United Kingdom Treasury |access-date=26 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201114647/http://www.euro.gov.uk/crossborder.asp |archive-date=1 December 2008 }}</ref> Credit/debit card charging and ATM withdrawals within the eurozone are also treated as domestic transactions; however paper-based payment orders, like cheques, have not been standardised so these are still domestic-based. The ECB has also set up a [[clearing (finance)|clearing system]], [[T2 (RTGS)|T2]] since March 2023, for large euro transactions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecb.int/paym/target/html/index.en.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080121081217/http://www.ecb.int/paym/target/html/index.en.html |archive-date=21 January 2008 |title=TARGET |author=European Central Bank |access-date=25 October 2007}}</ref>
-==History==
+== History ==
 {{Main|History of the euro}}
-===Introduction===
+=== Introduction ===
 {{Euro adoption past|group="note"}}
-The euro was established by the provisions in the 1992 [[Maastricht Treaty]]. To participate in the currency, member states are meant to meet [[Euro convergence criteria|strict criteria]], such as a budget [[Government budget deficit|deficit]] of less than 3% of their GDP, a debt ratio of less than 60% of GDP (both of which were ultimately widely flouted after introduction), low inflation, and [[interest]] rates close to the EU average. In the Maastricht Treaty, the United Kingdom and Denmark were granted exemptions per their request from moving to the stage of monetary union which resulted in the introduction of the euro (see also [[United Kingdom and the euro]]).
+The euro was established by the provisions in the 1992 [[Maastricht Treaty]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty) |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12012M%2FTXT |website=EUR-Lex |access-date=2023-10-04}}</ref><ref>Dyson, K., & Featherstone, K. (1999). *The Road to Maastricht: Negotiating Economic and Monetary Union*. Oxford University Press.</ref> To participate in the currency, member states are meant to meet [[Euro convergence criteria|strict criteria]], such as a budget [[Government budget deficit|deficit]] of less than 3% of their GDP, a debt ratio of less than 60% of GDP (both of which were ultimately widely flouted after introduction), low inflation, and [[interest]] rates close to the EU average.<ref>{{cite web |title=Convergence Criteria |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/html/index.en.html |website=European Central Bank |access-date=2023-10-04}}</ref><ref>Buti, M., & Sapir, A. (2002). *EMU and Economic Policy in Europe: The Challenge of the Early Years*. Edward Elgar Publishing.</ref> In the Maastricht Treaty, the United Kingdom and Denmark were granted exemptions per their request from moving to the stage of monetary union which resulted in the introduction of the euro (see also [[United Kingdom and the euro]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=Protocol on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12012M%2FTXT |website=EUR-Lex |access-date=2023-10-04}}</ref><ref>George, S. (1998). *An Awkward Partner: Britain in the European Community* (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.</ref>
 The name "euro" was officially adopted in [[Madrid]] on 16 December 1995.<ref name="madrid1995"/> Belgian [[Esperantist]] [[Germain Pirlot]], a former teacher of French and history, is credited with naming the new currency by sending a letter to then [[President of the European Commission]], [[Jacques Santer]], suggesting the name "euro" on 4 August 1995.<ref>{{Cite news | title= Germain Pirlot 'uitvinder' van de euro | url= http://www.ikso.net/vikipedio/artikeleuro.jpg | publisher= De Zeewacht | language= nl | date= 16 February 2007 | access-date= 21 May 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130630181850/http://www.ikso.net/vikipedio/artikeleuro.jpg | archive-date= 30 June 2013 }}</ref>
-Due to differences in national conventions for [[rounding]] and significant digits, all conversion between the national currencies had to be carried out using the process of [[Triangulation (finance)|triangulation]] via the euro. The ''definitive'' values of one euro in terms of the [[exchange rate]]s at which the currency entered the euro are shown in the table.
+Due to differences in national conventions for [[rounding]] and significant digits, all conversion between the national currencies had to be carried out using the process of [[Triangulation (finance)|triangulation]] via the euro.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Unready for blast-off |url=https://www.economist.com/unknown/1998/11/05/unready-for-blast-off |access-date=2025-08-28 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref> The ''definitive'' values of one euro in terms of the [[exchange rate]]s at which the currency entered the euro are shown in the table.
 The rates were determined by the [[Council of the European Union]],{{efn|by means of Council Regulation 2866/98 (EC) of 31 December 1998.}} based on a recommendation from the European Commission based on the market rates on 31 December 1998. They were set so that one [[European Currency Unit]] (ECU) would equal one euro. The European Currency Unit was an accounting unit used by the EU, based on the currencies of the member states; it was not a currency in its own right. They could not be set earlier, because the ECU depended on the closing exchange rate of the non-euro currencies (principally [[pound sterling]]) that day.
@@ Line 353: / Line 349: @@
 The changeover period during which the former currencies' notes and coins were exchanged for those of the euro lasted about two months, until 28 February 2002. The official date on which the national currencies ceased to be legal tender varied from member state to member state. The earliest date was in Germany, where the [[Deutsche Mark|mark]] officially ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 2001, though the exchange period lasted for two months more. Even after the old currencies ceased to be legal tender, they continued to be accepted by national central banks for periods ranging from several years to indefinitely (the latter for Austria, Germany, Ireland, Estonia and Latvia in banknotes and coins, and for Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Slovakia in banknotes only). The earliest coins to become non-convertible were the Portuguese [[Portuguese escudo|escudos]], which ceased to have monetary value after 31 December 2002, although banknotes remained exchangeable until 2022.{{clear}}
-===Currency sign===
+=== Currency sign ===
 {{Main|Euro sign}}
 [[File:Euro Construction.svg|thumb|right|Graphic construction of the euro logo]]
@@ Line 365: / Line 361: @@
 The European Commission also specified a euro logo with exact proportions.<ref name="design, rules" /> Placement of the currency sign relative to the numeric amount varies from state to state, but for texts in English published by EU institutions, the symbol (or the [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]-standard "EUR") should precede the amount.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-370303.htm#position|title=Position of the ISO code or euro sign in amounts|date=5 February 2009|work=Interinstitutional style guide|publisher=Europa Publications Office|access-date=10 January 2010|location=Bruxelles, Belgium}}</ref>
-===Eurozone crisis===
+=== Eurozone crisis ===
 {{main|Euro area crisis|Greek government-debt crisis}}
 {{see also|2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis}}
@@ Line 379: / Line 375: @@
 ]]
-Following the [[2008 financial crisis]], fears of a [[sovereign default]] developed in 2009 among investors concerning some European states, with the situation becoming particularly tense in [[2000s European sovereign debt crisis timeline|early 2010]].<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE61F0W720100216 |title=Peripheral euro zone government bond spreads widen |work=Reuters |author=George Matlock |date=16 February 2010 |access-date=28 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/node/16009099 | title=Acropolis now |newspaper=The Economist |date=29 April 2010 |access-date=22 June 2011}}</ref> [[Economy of Greece|Greece]] was most acutely affected, but fellow Eurozone members [[Economy of Cyprus|Cyprus]], [[Economy of the Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Economy of Italy|Italy]], [[Economy of Portugal|Portugal]], and [[Economy of Spain|Spain]] were also significantly affected.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/27/world/europe/european-debt-crisis-fast-facts/index.html European Debt Crisis Fast Facts], CNN Library (last updated 22 January 2017).</ref><ref>[[Ricardo Reis]], [https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/PDFReisTextFallBPEA.pdf Looking for a Success in the Euro Crisis Adjustment Programs: The Case of Portugal], ''Brookings Papers on Economic Activity'', [[Brookings Institution]] (Fall 2015), p. 433.</ref> All these countries used EU funds except Italy, which is a major donor to the EFSF.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linkiesta.it/it/article/2011/11/04/efsf-come-funziona-il-fondo-salvastati-europeo/2302/|title=Efsf, come funziona il fondo salvastati europeo|date=4 November 2011}}</ref> To be included in the eurozone, countries had to fulfil certain [[Euro convergence criteria|convergence criteria]], but the meaningfulness of such criteria was diminished by the fact it was not enforced with the same level of strictness among countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3454 |title=The politics of the Maastricht convergence criteria|publisher=VoxEU |date=15 April 2009 |access-date=1 October 2011}}</ref>
+Following the [[2008 financial crisis]], fears of a [[sovereign default]] developed in 2009 among investors concerning some European states, with the situation becoming particularly tense in [[2000s European sovereign debt crisis timeline|early 2010]].<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE61F0W720100216 |title=Peripheral euro zone government bond spreads widen |work=Reuters |author=George Matlock |date=16 February 2010 |access-date=28 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/leaders/2010/04/29/acropolis-now | title=Acropolis now |newspaper=The Economist |date=29 April 2010 |access-date=22 June 2011}}</ref> [[Economy of Greece|Greece]] was most acutely affected, but fellow Eurozone members [[Economy of Cyprus|Cyprus]], [[Economy of the Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Economy of Italy|Italy]], [[Economy of Portugal|Portugal]], and [[Economy of Spain|Spain]] were also significantly affected.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/27/world/europe/european-debt-crisis-fast-facts/index.html European Debt Crisis Fast Facts], CNN Library (last updated 22 January 2017).</ref><ref>[[Ricardo Reis (economist)|Ricardo Reis]], [https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/PDFReisTextFallBPEA.pdf Looking for a Success in the Euro Crisis Adjustment Programs: The Case of Portugal], ''Brookings Papers on Economic Activity'', [[Brookings Institution]] (Fall 2015), p. 433.</ref> All these countries used EU funds except Italy, which is a major donor to the EFSF.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linkiesta.it/it/article/2011/11/04/efsf-come-funziona-il-fondo-salvastati-europeo/2302/|title=Efsf, come funziona il fondo salvastati europeo|date=4 November 2011}}</ref> To be included in the eurozone, countries had to fulfil certain [[Euro convergence criteria|convergence criteria]], but the meaningfulness of such criteria was diminished by the fact it was not enforced with the same level of strictness among countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3454 |title=The politics of the Maastricht convergence criteria|publisher=VoxEU |date=15 April 2009 |access-date=1 October 2011}}</ref>
 According to the [[Economist Intelligence Unit]] in 2011, "[I]f the [euro area] is treated as a single entity, its [economic and fiscal] position looks no worse and in some respects, rather better than that of the US or the UK" and the budget deficit for the euro area as a whole is much lower and the euro area's government debt/GDP ratio of 86% in 2010 was about the same level as that of the United States. "Moreover", they write, "private-sector indebtedness across the euro area as a whole is markedly lower than in the highly leveraged [[Anglosphere|Anglo-Saxon]] economies". The authors conclude that the crisis "is as much political as economic" and the result of the fact that the euro area lacks the support of "institutional [[paraphernalia]] (and mutual bonds of solidarity) of a state".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pages.eiu.com/rs/eiu2/images/EuroDebtPaperMarch2011.pdf |title=State of the Union: Can the euro zone survive its debt crisis?|page=4 |publisher=[[Economist Intelligence Unit]] |date=1 March 2011 |access-date=1 December 2011}}</ref>
@@ Line 387: / Line 383: @@
 A historical parallel&nbsp;– to 1931 when Germany was burdened with debt, unemployment and austerity while France and the United States were relatively strong creditors&nbsp;– [[Liaquat Ahamed#Lords of Finance|gained attention]] in summer 2012<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-crisis-brings-world-to-brink-of-depression-2012-07-24 |title=Euro crisis brings world to brink of depression |first=Darrell | last= Delamaide |website=MarketWatch |date=24 July 2012 |access-date=24 July 2012}}</ref> even as Germany received a [[Bond credit rating#Credit rating agencies|debt-rating]] warning of its own.<ref>Lindner, Fabian, "[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/24/germany-moodys-warning-shot-eurozone Germany would do well to heed the Moody's warning shot]", ''The Guardian'', 24 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.</ref><ref>Buergin, Rainer, "[http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-M7MTLK6K50YQ01-2MU1077HDEEK0FPVVG6AUS88JB Germany, Juncker Push Back After Moody's Rating Outlook Cuts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728105157/http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-M7MTLK6K50YQ01-2MU1077HDEEK0FPVVG6AUS88JB |date=28 July 2012 }}", ''washpost.bloomberg'', 24 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.</ref>
-==Direct and indirect usage==
+== Direct and indirect usage ==
 {{Further|Eurozone|International status and usage of the euro|Enlargement of the eurozone}}
 {{Eurozone labelled map interior}}
-===Agreed direct usage with minting rights===
+=== Agreed direct usage with minting rights ===
 The euro is the sole currency of 20 [[European Union member states|EU member states]]: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. These countries constitute the "[[eurozone]]", some 347&nbsp;million people in total {{As of|2023|lc=y}}.<ref name="2013_data_sheet">{{cite web|url=http://www.prb.org/pdf13/2013-population-data-sheet_eng.pdf|title=2013 World Population Data Sheet|author=Population Reference Bureau|author-link=Population Reference Bureau|access-date=2013-10-01|archive-date=26 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226072048/http://www.prb.org/pdf13/2013-population-data-sheet_eng.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to [[International status and usage of the euro#Sovereign states|bilateral agreements with the EU]], the euro has also been designated as the sole and official currency in a further four [[Microstates and the European Union|European microstates]] awarded minting rights (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City). All other EU member states (except Denmark, which has an [[Danish opt-outs from the European Union|opt-out]]), and any potential future members, are [[enlargement of the eurozone|obliged to adopt the euro]] when economic conditions permit.
-===Agreed direct usage without minting rights===
+=== Agreed direct usage without minting rights ===
 The euro is also the sole currency in three [[Special member state territories and the European Union|overseas territories of France]] that are not themselves part of the EU, namely [[Saint Barthélemy]], [[Saint Pierre and Miquelon]], and the [[French Southern and Antarctic Lands]], as well as in the [[British Overseas Territory]] of [[Akrotiri and Dhekelia]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Sovereign Base areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia on Cyprus |url=https://commonwealthchamber.com/associated-territories/sovereign-base-areas-of-akrotiri-and-dhekelia-on-cyprus/ |website=Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce}}</ref>
-===Unilateral direct usage===
+=== Unilateral direct usage ===
 The euro has been adopted unilaterally as the sole currency of Montenegro and Kosovo. It has also been used as a foreign trading currency in Cuba since 1998,<ref>{{cite news| title=Cuba to adopt euro in foreign trade |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/210441.stm |work=BBC News |date=8 November 1998 |access-date=2 January 2008}}</ref> Syria since 2006,<ref>{{cite news| title= US row leads Syria to snub dollar | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4713622.stm |work=BBC News |date=14 February 2006 | access-date=2 January 2008}}</ref> and Venezuela since 2018.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-16/dollars-are-out-euros-are-in-as-u-s-sanctions-sting-venezuela|title=Dollars Are Out, Euros Are in as U.S. Sanctions Sting Venezuela|last1=Rosati|first1=Andrew|date=17 October 2018|work=[[Bloomberg News|Bloomberg]]|access-date=17 June 2019|last2=Zerpa|first2=Fabiola}}</ref> In 2009, Zimbabwe abandoned its [[Zimbabwean dollar|local currency]] and introduced major global convertible currencies instead, including the euro and the United States dollar. The direct usage of the euro outside of the official framework of the EU affects nearly 3&nbsp;million people.<ref>{{Cite news| title=Zimbabwe: A Critical Review of Sterp |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200904170690.html |date=17 April 2009 |access-date=30 April 2009}}</ref>
-===Currencies pegged to the euro===
+=== Currencies pegged to the euro ===
 {{Main|International status and usage of the euro}}
 [[File:DOLLAR AND EURO IN THE WORLD.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Worldwide use of the euro and the US dollar:
@@ Line 411: / Line 407: @@
 {{Legend|#999909|Currencies pegged to the US dollar}}
 {{Legend|#FFFF99|Currencies pegged to the US dollar within narrow band}}
-<hr/>
+]]
-<small>Note: The [[Belarusian rouble]] is pegged to the euro, [[Russian ruble]] and [[United States dollar|US dollar]] in a [[currency basket]].</small>]]
+Outside the eurozone, two EU member states have currencies that are [[Fixed exchange rate system|pegged to the euro]], which is a precondition to joining the eurozone. The [[Danish krone]] and [[Bulgarian lev]] are pegged through to their participation in the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism|ERM&nbsp;II]].
+On the other hand, the currencies of countries and territories that were pegged to the European currencies that disappeared with the creation of the euro were now pegged to it. Currently, they are as follows:
+* [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]: The [[Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark]] was pegged to the [[Deutsche mark]]. Currently, it has a fixed exchange rate of 1.95583 convertible marks = 1 euro.
+* [[Cape Verde]]: The [[Cape Verdean escudo]] was pegged to the [[Portuguese escudo]]. Currently, it has a fixed exchange rate of 110.625 Cape Verdean escudos = 1 euro.
+* [[Comoros]]: The [[Comorian franc]] was pegged to the [[French franc]]. Currently, it has a fixed exchange rate of 491.96775 Comorian francs = 1 euro.
+* [[Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa]] ([[Cameroon]], the [[Central African Republic]], [[Chad]], [[Equatorial Guinea]], [[Gabon]] and the [[Republic of the Congo]]): the [[Central African CFA franc]] was pegged to the [[French franc]]. It currently has a fixed exchange rate of 655.957 Central African CFA francs = 1 euro.
+* [[North Macedonia]]: The [[Macedonian denar]] was pegged to the [[Deutsche mark]]. It is currently pegged to the euro. Its exchange rate remains stable at around 61 Macedonian denars to 1 euro.
+* [[West African Economic and Monetary Union]] ([[Benin]], [[Burkina Faso]], [[Guinea-Bissau]], [[Ivory Coast]], [[Mali]], [[Niger]], [[Senegal]], and [[Togo]]): The [[West African CFA franc]] was pegged to the [[French franc]]. It currently has a fixed exchange rate of 655.957 West African CFA francs = 1 euro.
+* The [[overseas collectivity|French overseas collectivities]] of [[French Polynesia]] and [[Wallis and Futuna]] as well as the special collectivity of [[New Caledonia]]: the [[CFP franc]] was pegged to the [[French franc]]. It currently has a fixed exchange rate of 1000 CFP francs = 8.38 euros, which makes 119.331742 CFP francs ≈ 1 euro.
-Outside the eurozone, two EU member states have currencies that are [[Fixed exchange rate system|pegged to the euro]], which is a precondition to joining the eurozone. The [[Danish krone]] and [[Bulgarian lev]] are pegged due to their participation in the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism|ERM&nbsp;II]].
+Furthermore, the currency of [[São Tomé and Príncipe]] (the [[São Tomé and Príncipe dobra]]) is pegged to the euro following an agreement signed with Portugal in 2009 and which came into effect on 1 January 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.telanon.info/economia/2010/01/04/2437/1-euro-equivale-a-24500-dobras/|title=1 euro equivale a 24.500 dobras|date=4 January 2009|trans-title=1 euro is equivalent to 24,500 dobras|language=pt|access-date=16 November 2020|publisher=Téla Nón}}</ref> It has a fixed exchange rate of 24.5 São Tomé and Príncipe dobras = 1 euro.
-Additionally, a total of 22 countries and territories that do not belong to the EU have currencies that are directly [[Fixed exchange rate system|pegged]] to the euro including 14 countries in mainland Africa ([[CFA franc]]), three African island countries ([[Comorian franc]], [[Cape Verdean escudo]] and [[São Tomé and Príncipe dobra]] (since 1 January 2010)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.telanon.info/economia/2010/01/04/2437/1-euro-equivale-a-24500-dobras/|title=1 euro equivale a 24.500 dobras|date=4 January 2009|trans-title=1 euro is equivalent to 24,500 dobras|language=pt|access-date=16 November 2020|publisher=Téla Nón}}</ref>), three French Pacific territories ([[CFP franc]]) and two Balkan countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina ([[Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark]]) and North Macedonia ([[Macedonian denar]]).<ref name="Cardoso"/> Additionally, the [[Moroccan dirham]] is tied to a basket of currencies, including the euro and the US dollar, with the euro given the highest weighting.
+Of the currencies mentioned, the [[Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark]] maintains a fixed exchange rate through the [[currency board]] system; the [[Central African CFA franc]], the [[West African CFA franc]], the [[CFP franc]], the [[Cape Verdean escudo]], the [[Comorian franc]], and the [[São Tomé and Príncipe dobra]] maintain a conventional fixed exchange rate; and the [[Macedonian denar]] uses a stabilized arrangement. Additionally, the currency of [[Morocco]], the [[Moroccan dirham]], is pegged to the euro through a [[basket of currencies]]. Other countries that, as of December 2023, have exchange rate regimes linked to the euro are [[Romania]], [[Serbia]], [[Singapore]], [[Botswana]], [[Tunisia]], [[Samoa]], [[Fiji]], [[Libya]], [[Kuwait]], [[Syria]], [[China]] and [[Vanuatu]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.elibrary.imf.org/downloadpdf/display/book/9798400260391/9798400260391.pdf |title=Annual report on exchange arrangements and exchange restrictions, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/ire/ecb.ire202406_annex.en.pdf |title=The euro in global foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate anchoring}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/-/media/Files/Publications/CR/2025/English/1mkdea2025001-print-pdf.ashx |title=INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND. REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.finances.gov.ma/en/Pages/detail-actualite.aspx?fiche=3534 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250325120326/https://www.finances.gov.ma/en/Pages/detail-actualite.aspx?fiche=3534 |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 March 2025 |title=Transition to a more flexible exchange rate system |access-date=29 August 2025 }}</ref>
-These countries generally had previously implemented a currency peg to one of the major European currencies (e.g. the [[French franc]], [[Deutsche Mark]] or [[Portuguese escudo]]), and when these currencies were replaced by the euro their currencies became pegged to the euro. Pegging a country's currency to a major currency is regarded as a safety measure, especially for currencies of areas with weak economies, as the euro is seen as a stable currency, prevents runaway inflation, and encourages foreign investment due to its stability.
+Pegging a country's currency to a major currency is regarded as a safety measure, especially for currencies of areas with weak economies, as the euro is seen as a stable currency, prevents runaway inflation, and encourages foreign investment due to its stability.
 In total, {{As of|2013|lc=y}}, 182&nbsp;million people in Africa use a currency pegged to the euro, 27&nbsp;million people outside the eurozone in Europe, and another 545,000 people on Pacific islands.<ref name="2013_data_sheet"/>
@@ Line 424: / Line 430: @@
 Since 2005, stamps issued by the [[Sovereign Military Order of Malta]] have been denominated in euros, although the Order's official currency remains the [[Maltese scudo]].<ref name=smom>{{cite web| url = https://www.orderofmalta.int/associate-countries/| title = Retrieved 3 October 2017.}}</ref> The Maltese scudo itself is pegged to the euro and is only recognised as legal tender within the Order.
-The currency of a number of states is [[Fixed exchange rate system|pegged]] to the euro. These states are:{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}
+Countries and territories that have their currencies [[Fixed exchange rate system|pegged]] to the euro, by continent:
 {{div col|colwidth=25em}}
@@ Line 431: / Line 437: @@
 * {{Flagcountry|Bulgaria}} ([[Bulgarian lev]], {{ISO 4217|BGN}})
 * {{Flagcountry|Denmark}} ([[Danish krone]], {{ISO 4217|DKK}})
-* {{Flagcountry|North Macedonia}} ([[Macedonian denar]], {{ISO 4217|MKD}})<ref name="Cardoso">{{cite web |last=Cardoso |first=Paulo |title=Interview&nbsp;– Governor of the National Bank of Macedonia&nbsp;– Dimitar Bogov |url=http://www.the-american-times.com/american-times-governor-national-bank-macedonia-dimitar-bogov/2013/10/05 |work=The American Times United States Emerging Economies Report (USEER Report) |publisher=Hazlehurst Media SA |access-date=8 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020073010/http://www.the-american-times.com/american-times-governor-national-bank-macedonia-dimitar-bogov/2013/10/05 |archive-date=20 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
+* {{Flagcountry|North Macedonia}} ([[Macedonian denar]], {{ISO 4217|MKD}})
 * {{Flagcountry|Sovereign Military Order of Malta}} ([[Maltese scudo]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=Numismatica|url=https://www.ordinedimaltaitalia.org/article/numismatica |access-date=2022-04-30 |website=Ordine di Malta Italia}}</ref>
 '''Oceania'''
 * {{Flagcountry|French Polynesia}} ([[CFP franc]], {{ISO 4217|XPF}})
-* {{Flagcountry|New Caledonia}}  (CFP franc)
+* [[File:Flag_of_France.svg|23px]] [[New Caledonia]] (CFP franc)
 * {{Flagcountry|Wallis and Futuna}} (CFP franc)
 '''Africa'''
+* {{Flagcountry|Benin}} ([[West African CFA franc]], {{ISO 4217|XOF}})
+* {{Flagcountry|Burkina Faso}} (West African CFA franc)
+* {{Flagcountry|Cameroon}} ([[Central African CFA franc]], {{ISO 4217|XAF}})
 * {{Flagcountry|Cape Verde}} ([[Cape Verdean escudo]], {{ISO 4217|CVE}})
-* {{Flagcountry|Cameroon}} ([[Central African CFA franc]], {{ISO 4217|XAF}})
 * {{Flagcountry|Central African Republic}} (Central African CFA franc)
 * {{Flagcountry|Chad}} (Central African CFA franc)
+* {{Flagcountry|Comoros}} ([[Comorian franc]], {{ISO 4217|KMF}})
 * {{Flagcountry|Equatorial Guinea}} (Central African CFA franc)
 * {{Flagcountry|Gabon}} (Central African CFA franc)
-* {{Flagcountry|Republic of the Congo}} (Central African CFA franc)
+* {{Flagcountry|Guinea-Bissau}} (West African CFA franc)
-* {{Flagcountry|Comoros}} ([[Comorian franc]], {{ISO 4217|KMF}})
+* {{Flagcountry|Ivory Coast}} (West African CFA franc)
+* {{Flagcountry|Mali}} (West African CFA franc)
+* {{Flagcountry|Morocco}} ([[Moroccan dirham]], {{ISO 4217|MAD}}) <small>(through a [[basket of currencies]])</small>
+* {{Flagcountry|Niger}} (West African CFA franc)
+* [[File:Flag_of_Republic_of_the_Congo.svg|23px]] [[Republic of the Congo]] (Central African CFA franc)
 * {{Flagcountry|São Tomé and Príncipe}} ([[São Tomé and Príncipe dobra]], {{ISO 4217|STN}})
-* {{Flagcountry|Benin}} ([[West African CFA franc]], {{ISO 4217|XOF}})
+* {{Flagcountry|Senegal}} (West African CFA franc)
-* {{Flagcountry|Burkina Faso}} (West African CFA franc)
-* {{Flagcountry|Côte d'Ivoire}} (West African CFA franc)
-* {{Flagcountry|Guinea-Bissau}} (West African CFA franc)
-* {{Flagcountry|Mali}} (West African CFA franc)
-* {{Flagcountry|Niger}} (West African CFA franc)
-* {{Flagcountry|Senegal}} (West African CFA franc)
 * {{Flagcountry|Togo}} (West African CFA franc)
 {{div col end}}
-===Use as reserve currency===
+=== Use as reserve currency ===
 Since its introduction in 1999, the euro has been the second most widely held international [[reserve currency]] after the U.S. dollar. The share of the euro as a reserve currency increased from 18% in 1999 to 27% in 2008. Over this period, the share held in U.S. dollar fell from 71% to 64% and that held in RMB fell from 6.4% to 3.3%. The euro inherited and built on the status of the [[Deutsche Mark]] as the second most important reserve currency. The euro remains underweight as a reserve currency in advanced economies while overweight in emerging and developing economies: according to the [[International Monetary Fund]]<ref name="external1">{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/cofer/eng/cofer.pdf |title=Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER)&nbsp;– Updated COFER tables include first quarter 2009 data. June&nbsp;30, 2009 |access-date=8 July 2009}}</ref> the total of euro held as a reserve in the world at the end of 2008 was equal to $1.1&nbsp;trillion or €850&nbsp;billion, with a share of 22% of all currency reserves in advanced economies, but a total of 31% of all currency reserves in emerging and developing economies.
 The possibility of the euro becoming the first international reserve currency has been debated among economists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wage.wisc.edu/uploads/Working%20Papers/chinnfrankel_NBER_eurotopcurrency.pdf |title=Will the Euro Eventually Surpass the Dollar As Leading International Reserve Currency? |access-date=17 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825070016/http://www.wage.wisc.edu/uploads/Working%20Papers/chinnfrankel_NBER_eurotopcurrency.pdf |archive-date=25 August 2013 }}</ref> Former [[Federal Reserve]] Chairman [[Alan Greenspan]] gave his opinion in September 2007 that it was "absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the US dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency".<ref>{{Cite news| title=Euro could replace dollar as top currency&nbsp;– Greenspan | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSL1771147920070917 | access-date=17 September 2007 | date=17 September 2007 |work=Reuters}}</ref> In contrast to Greenspan's 2007 assessment, the euro's increase in the share of the worldwide currency reserve basket has slowed considerably since 2007 and since the beginning of the [[Great Recession]] and [[Euro area crisis]].<ref name="external1"/>
-==Economics==
+== Economics ==
 [[File:Euro Monetary Policy.webp|thumb|299px|right|Euro [[Monetary policy]]
 {{legend|#0076BA|Euro Zone inflation year/year}}
@@ Line 474: / Line 481: @@
 ]]
-===Optimal currency area===
+=== Optimal currency area ===
 {{Further|Optimum currency area}}
 In economics, an optimum currency area, or region (OCA or OCR), is a geographical region in which it would maximise economic efficiency to have the entire region share a single currency. There are two models, both proposed by [[Robert Mundell]]: the [[Optimum currency area#OCA with stationary expectations|stationary expectations model]] and the [[Optimum currency area#OCA with international risk sharing|international risk sharing model]]. Mundell himself advocates the international risk sharing model and thus concludes in favour of the euro.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=A Plan for a European Currency |date=1970 |orig-year=published 1973|last=Mundell |first=Robert|editor1=Johnson, H. G. | editor2= Swoboda, A. K. | title = The Economics of Common Currencies{{snd}} Proceedings of Conference on Optimum Currency Areas. 1970. Madrid. | publisher= Allen and Unwin | location = London |pages= 143–172 | isbn= 9780043320495}}</ref> However, even before the creation of the single currency, there were concerns over diverging economies. Before the [[late-2000s recession]] it was considered unlikely that a state would leave the euro or the whole zone would collapse.<ref>{{cite journal |ssrn=1014341 |title=The Breakup of the Euro Area by Barry Eichengreen |date=14 September 2007 |journal=[[NBER Working Paper]] |number=w13393|last1=Eichengreen |first1=Barry }}</ref> However the [[Greek government-debt crisis]] led to former [[British Foreign Secretary]] [[Jack Straw]] claiming the eurozone could not last in its current form.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13839381 |title=Greek debt crisis: Straw says eurozone 'will collapse' |work=[[BBC News]] |date=20 June 2011 |access-date=17 July 2011}}</ref> Part of the problem seems to be the rules that were created when the euro was set up. John Lanchester, writing for ''[[The New Yorker]]'', explains it: {{blockquote|The guiding principle of the currency, which opened for business in 1999, were supposed to be a set of rules to limit a country's annual deficit to three per cent of gross domestic product, and the total accumulated debt to sixty per cent of G.D.P. It was a nice idea, but by 2004 the two biggest economies in the euro zone, Germany and France, had broken the rules for three years in a row.<ref>John Lanchester, "Euro Science", ''The New Yorker'', 10 October 2011.</ref>}}
-Increasing business cycle divergence across the Eurozone over the last decades implies a decreasing optimum currency area.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1007/s11079-024-09750-z | title=Optimum Currency Area in the Eurozone | date=2024 | last1=Beck | first1=Krzysztof | last2=Okhrimenko | first2=Iana | journal=Open Economies Review | doi-access=free  |issn = 0923-7992 }}</ref>
+Increasing business cycle divergence across the Eurozone over the last decades implies a decreasing optimum currency area.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1007/s11079-024-09750-z | title=Optimum Currency Area in the Eurozone | date=2024 | last1=Beck | first1=Krzysztof | last2=Okhrimenko | first2=Iana | journal=Open Economies Review | volume=36 | pages=197–219 | doi-access=free  |issn = 0923-7992 }}</ref>
-===Transaction costs and risks===
+=== Transaction costs and risks ===
 The most obvious benefit of adopting a single currency is to remove the cost of exchanging currency, theoretically allowing businesses and individuals to consummate previously unprofitable trades. For consumers, banks in the eurozone must charge the same for intra-member cross-border transactions as purely domestic transactions for electronic payments (e.g., [[credit card]]s, [[debit card]]s and [[cash machine]] withdrawals).
@@ Line 487: / Line 494: @@
 Financial markets on the continent are expected to be far more [[market liquidity|liquid]] and flexible than they were in the past. The reduction in cross-border transaction costs will allow larger banking firms to provide a wider array of banking services that can compete across and beyond the eurozone. However, although transaction costs were reduced, some studies have shown that [[risk aversion]] has increased during the last 40 years in the Eurozone.<ref>Benchimol, J., 2014. [https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reecon/v68y2014i1p39-56.html Risk aversion in the Eurozone], [[Research in Economics]], vol. 68, issue 1, pp. 40–56.</ref>
-===Price parity===
+=== Price parity ===
 Another effect of the common European currency is that differences in prices—in particular in price levels—should decrease because of the [[law of one price]]. Differences in prices can trigger [[arbitrage]], i.e., [[speculation|speculative]] trade in a [[commodity]] across borders purely to exploit the price differential. Therefore, prices on commonly traded goods are likely to converge, causing inflation in some regions and deflation in others during the transition. Some evidence of this has been observed in specific eurozone markets.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Pinelopi K. |last1=Goldberg |first2=Frank |last2=Verboven |title=Market Integration and Convergence to the Law of One Price: Evidence from the European Car Market |journal=Journal of International Economics |volume=65 |issue=1 |year=2005 |pages=49–73 |doi=10.1016/j.jinteco.2003.12.002 |citeseerx=10.1.1.494.1517 |s2cid=26850030 }}</ref>
-===Macroeconomic stability===
+=== Macroeconomic stability ===
 Before the introduction of the euro, some countries had successfully contained inflation, which was then seen as a major economic problem, by establishing largely independent central banks. One such bank was the [[Bundesbank]] in Germany; the European Central Bank was modelled on the Bundesbank.<ref name="bundesbank">{{Cite book|title=The History of the Bundesbank: Lessons for the European Central Bank |last=de Haan |first=Jakob |year=2000 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-21723-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EaIV0OWlaokC}}</ref>
@@ Line 504: / Line 511: @@
 A [[monetary union]] means states in that union lose the main mechanism of recovery of their international [[Competition (companies)|competitiveness]] by weakening ([[Currency appreciation and depreciation|depreciating]]) their currency. When [[wage]]s become too high compared to [[productivity]] in the exports sector, then these exports become more expensive and they are crowded out from the market within a country and abroad. This drives the fall of employment and output in the exports sector and fall of [[Balance of trade|trade]] and [[Current account (balance of payments)|current account]] balances. Fall of output and employment in the tradable goods sector may be offset by the growth of non-exports sectors, especially in [[construction]] and [[Service (economics)|services]]. Increased purchases abroad and negative current account balances can be financed without a problem as long as [[credit]] is cheap.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Ernest Pytlarczyk, Stefan Kawalec |title=Controlled Dismantlement of the Euro Area in Order to Preserve the European Union and Single European Market |url=http://www.case-research.eu/en/controlled-dismantlement-of-the-euro-area-in-order-to-preserve-the-european-union-and-sing |publisher=CASE Center for Social and Economic Research |access-date=19 December 2018 |pages=11 |date=June 2012}}</ref> The need to finance trade deficit weakens currency, making exports automatically more attractive in a country and abroad. A state in a monetary union cannot use weakening of currency to recover its international competitiveness. To achieve this a state has to reduce prices, including wages ([[deflation]]). This could result in high [[unemployment]] and lower incomes as it was during the [[euro area crisis]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=[[Martin Feldstein]] |title=The Failure of the Euro |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=January–February 2012 |url=https://www.nber.org/feldstein/fa121311.html |at=Chapter: Trading Places}}</ref>
-====Trade====
+==== Trade ====
 The euro increased price transparency and stimulated cross-border trade.<ref name="Eichengreen-2019">{{Cite book|last=Eichengreen|first=Barry|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvd58rxg|title=Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System|date=2019|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-19390-8|edition=3rd|pages=212–213|doi=10.2307/j.ctvd58rxg |jstor=j.ctvd58rxg|s2cid=240840930 }}</ref> A 2009 consensus from the studies of the introduction of the euro concluded that it has increased trade within the eurozone by 5% to 10%,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecb.de/pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp594.pdf |title=The euro's trade effects |access-date=2 October 2009}}</ref> and a [[meta-analysis]] of all available studies on the effect of introduction of the euro on increased trade suggests that the prevalence of positive estimates is caused by [[publication bias]] and that the underlying effect may be negligible.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Rose effect and the euro: is the magic gone? |journal=Review of World Economics |doi=10.1007/s10290-010-0050-1 |volume=146 |issue=2 |pages=241–261|year=2010 |last1=Havránek |first1=Tomáš |s2cid=53585674 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00582634/file/PEER_stage2_10.1007%252Fs10290-010-0050-1.pdf }}</ref> Although a more recent meta-analysis shows that publication bias decreases over time and that there are positive trade effects from the introduction of the euro, as long as results from before 2010 are taken into account. This may be because of the inclusion of the [[2008 financial crisis]] and ongoing integration within the EU.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Polák|first=Petr|year=2019|title=The Euro's Trade Effect: A Meta-Analysis|url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/174189/1/wp_2016_22_polak.pdf |journal=Journal of Economic Surveys|volume=33|issue=1|pages=101–124|doi=10.1111/joes.12264|hdl=10419/174189|s2cid=157693449|issn=1467-6419|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Furthermore, older studies based on certain methods of analysis of main trends  reflecting general cohesion policies in Europe that started before, and continue after implementing the common currency find no effect on trade.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Gomes|first1=Tamara|last2=Graham|first2=Chris|last3=Helliwel|first3=John|last4=Takashi|first4=Kano|last5=Murray|first5=John|last6=Schembri|first6=Lawrence|title=The Euro and Trade: Is there a Positive Effect?|url=http://www2.dse.unibo.it/soegw/paper/GomGraHelKanoMurrayS.pdf|publisher=Bank of Canada|date=August 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903222409/http://www2.dse.unibo.it/soegw/paper/GomGraHelKanoMurrayS.pdf|archive-date=3 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=H.|first1=Berger|last2=V.|first2=Nitsch|title=Zooming out: The trade effect of the euro in historical perspective|journal=Journal of International Money and Finance|volume=27|issue=8|pages=1244–1260 |doi=10.1016/j.jimonfin.2008.07.005|year=2008|hdl=10419/18799|s2cid=53493723|url=https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp1435.pdf|hdl-access=free}}</ref> These results suggest that other policies aimed at European integration might be the source of observed increase in trade. According to Barry Eichengreen, studies disagree on the magnitude of the effect of the euro on trade, but they agree that it did have an effect.<ref name="Eichengreen-2019"/>
-====Investment====
+==== Investment ====
 Physical investment seems to have increased by 5% in the eurozone due to the introduction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eu-financial-system.org/fileadmin/content/Dokumente_Events/second_conference/Dvorak.pdf |title=The Impact of the Euro on Investment: Sectoral Evidence |access-date=2 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831043539/http://www.eu-financial-system.org/fileadmin/content/Dokumente_Events/second_conference/Dvorak.pdf |archive-date=31 August 2013 }}</ref> Regarding foreign direct investment, a study found that the intra-eurozone FDI stocks have increased by about 20% during the first four years of the EMU.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afse.fr/docs/congres_2005/docs2005/Sousa.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210053621/http://www.afse.fr/docs/congres_2005/docs2005/Sousa.pdf |archive-date=10 December 2006 |title=Does the single currency affect FDI? |publisher=AFSE.fr |access-date=30 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Concerning the effect on corporate investment, there is evidence that the introduction of the euro has resulted in an increase in investment rates and that it has made it easier for firms to access financing in Europe. The euro has most specifically stimulated investment in companies that come from countries that previously had weak currencies. A study found that the introduction of the euro accounts for 22% of the investment rate after 1998 in countries that previously had a weak currency.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.wu-wien.ac.at/rof/papers/pdf/Bris-Koskinen-Nilsson_Euro%20Effects.pdf |title=The Real Effects of the Euro: Evidence from Corporate Investments |access-date=30 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706085845/http://www2.wu-wien.ac.at/rof/papers/pdf/Bris-Koskinen-Nilsson_Euro%20Effects.pdf |archive-date=6 July 2011 }}</ref>
-====Inflation====
+==== Inflation ====
 [[File:Euro inflation.webp|thumb|Euro Zone inflation]]
 The introduction of the euro has led to extensive discussion about its possible effect on inflation. In the short term, there was a widespread impression in the population of the eurozone that the introduction of the euro had led to an increase in prices, but this impression was not confirmed by general indices of inflation and other studies.<ref>{{Cite journal|author = Paolo Angelini |author2=Francesco Lippi | title = Did Prices Really Soar after the Euro Cash Changeover? Evidence from ATM Withdrawals | journal = International Journal of Central Banking | date = December 2007 | url = http://www.ijcb.org/journal/ijcb07q4a1.pdf | access-date =23 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Content/Publikationen/Querschnittsveroeffentlichungen/WirtschaftStatistik/Preise/EuroBargeldeinfuehrung,property=file.pdf| title = Fünf Jahre nach der Euro-Bargeldeinführung&nbsp;–War der Euro wirklich ein Teuro?|trans-title=Five years after the introduction of euro cash&nbsp;– Did the euro really make things more expensive?| author = Irmtraud Beuerlein| publisher = Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden| language = de| access-date =23 August 2011}}</ref> A study of this paradox found that this was due to an asymmetric effect of the introduction of the euro on prices: while it had no effect on most goods, it had an effect on cheap goods which have seen their price round up after the introduction of the euro. The study found that consumers based their beliefs on inflation of those cheap goods which are frequently purchased.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121658067/abstract |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20171011040045/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1538-4616.2008.00189.x/abstract |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 October 2017 |title=The Euro Changeover and Its Effects on Price Transparency and Inflation |access-date=12 November 2010|doi=10.1111/j.1538-4616.2008.00189.x|volume=41|journal=Journal of Money, Credit and Banking|pages=101–129|year=2009 |last1=Dziuda |first1=Wioletta |last2=Mastrobuoni |first2=Giovanni |issue=1 }}</ref> It has also been suggested that the jump in small prices may be because prior to the introduction, retailers made fewer upward adjustments and waited for the introduction of the euro to do so.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1162/qjec.121.3.1103 |title=Quarterly Journal of Economics&nbsp;– Abstract |journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=121 |issue=3 |pages=1103–1131 |year=2006 |last1=Hobijn |first1=Bart |last2=Ravenna |first2=Federico |last3=Tambalotti |first3=Andrea |url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/60548/1/477453724.pdf }}</ref> Based on the [[Croatia and the euro|introduction of the euro as the official currency in Croatia]] in 2023, the ECB argues that inflation due to a change of currency is a one-time effect of limited impact.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2023/html/ecb.blog.230307~1669dec988.en.html |title=Has the euro changeover really caused extra inflation in Croatia |date=2023-03-07 |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=ECB |last1=Falagiarda |first1=Matteo |last2=Gartner |first2=Christine |last3=Mužić |first3=Ivan |last4=Pufnik |first4=Andreja}}</ref>
-====Exchange rate risk====
+==== Exchange rate risk ====
 One of the advantages of the adoption of a common currency is the reduction of the risk associated with changes in currency exchange rates.<ref name="Eichengreen-2019"/> It has been found that the introduction of the euro created "significant reductions in market risk exposures for nonfinancial firms both in and outside Europe".<ref>{{cite journal |title=The impact of the introduction of the Euro on foreign exchange rate risk exposures |journal=Journal of Empirical Finance |doi=10.1016/j.jempfin.2006.01.002 |volume=13 |issue=4–5 |pages=519–549|year=2006 |last1=Bartram |first1=Söhnke M. |last2=Karolyi |first2=G. Andrew }}</ref> These reductions in market risk "were concentrated in firms domiciled in the eurozone and in non-euro firms with a high fraction of foreign sales or assets in Europe".
-====Financial integration====
+==== Financial integration ====
 The introduction of the euro increased financial integration within Europe, which helped stimulate growth of a European [[securities market]] (bond markets are characterized by [[economies of scale]] dynamics).<ref name="Eichengreen-2019"/> According to a study on this question, it has "significantly reshaped the European financial system, especially with respect to the securities markets [...] However, the real and policy barriers to integration in the retail and corporate banking sectors remain significant, even if the wholesale end of banking has been largely integrated."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tcd.ie/iiis/documents/discussion/pdfs/iiisdp139.pdf |title=The Euro and Financial Integration|date=May 2006 |access-date=2 October 2009}}</ref> Specifically, the euro has significantly decreased the cost of trade in bonds, equity, and banking assets within the eurozone.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The geography of asset trade and the euro: Insiders and outsiders |journal=Journal of the Japanese and International Economies |doi=10.1016/j.jjie.2008.11.001 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=90–113|year=2009 |last1=Coeurdacier |first1=Nicolas |last2=Martin |first2=Philippe |s2cid=55948853 |url=http://www.cepremap.fr/depot/docweb/docweb0701.pdf }}</ref> On a global level, there is evidence that the introduction of the euro has led to an integration in terms of investment in bond portfolios, with eurozone countries lending and borrowing more between each other than with other countries.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lane |first1=Philip R. |title=Global Bond Portfolios and EMU |journal=International Journal of Central Banking |date=June 2006 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=1–23 |url=https://www.ijcb.org/journal/ijcb06q2a1.htm |citeseerx=10.1.1.365.4579 }}</ref> Financial integration made it cheaper for European companies to borrow.<ref name="Eichengreen-2019"/> Banks, firms and households could also invest more easily outside of their own country, thus creating greater international risk-sharing.<ref name="Eichengreen-2019"/>
-====Effect on interest rates====
+==== Effect on interest rates ====
 [[File:Long-term interest rates of eurozone countries since 1993.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Secondary market yields of government bonds with maturities of close to 10 years]]
@@ Line 527: / Line 534: @@
 The effect of declining interest rates, combined with excess liquidity continually provided by the ECB, made it easier for banks within the countries in which interest rates fell the most, and their linked sovereigns, to borrow significant amounts (above the 3% of GDP budget deficit imposed on the eurozone initially) and significantly inflate their public and private debt levels.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.investmentweek.co.uk/investment-week/opinion/2076100/redwood-origins-euro-crisis |title=Redwood: The origins of the euro crisis |publisher=Investmentweek.co.uk |date=3 June 2011 |access-date=16 September 2011}}</ref> Following the [[2008 financial crisis]], governments in these countries found it necessary to bail out or nationalise their privately held banks to prevent systemic failure of the banking system when underlying hard or financial asset values were found to be grossly inflated and sometimes so nearly worthless there was no liquid market for them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ip-global.org/2011/02/01/farewell-fair-weather-euro/ |title=Farewell, Fair-Weather Euro &#124; IP&nbsp;– Global-Edition |publisher=Ip-global.org |access-date=16 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317161013/http://www.ip-global.org/2011/02/01/farewell-fair-weather-euro/ |archive-date=17 March 2011 }}</ref> This further increased the already high levels of public debt to a level the markets began to consider unsustainable, via increasing government bond interest rates, leading to the [[euro area crisis]].
-====Price convergence====
+==== Price convergence ====
 The evidence on the convergence of prices in the eurozone with the introduction of the euro is mixed. Several studies failed to find any evidence of convergence following the introduction of the euro after a phase of convergence in the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ecb.eu/events/pdf/conferences/emu/sessionV_Angeloni_Paper.pdf |title=Price setting and inflation dynamics: did EMU matter |access-date=13 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725112443/http://www.ecb.eu/events/pdf/conferences/emu/sessionV_Angeloni_Paper.pdf |archive-date=25 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://opus.zbw-kiel.de/volltexte/2009/7575/pdf/200906dkp.pdf |title=Price convergence in the EMU? Evidence from micro data |access-date=2 October 2009}}</ref> Other studies have found evidence of price convergence,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://faculty.london.edu/hrey/IMRRtele.pdf |title=One TV, One Price? |access-date=17 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/835/1/MPRA_paper_835.pdf |title=One Market, One Money, One Price? |access-date=17 July 2011}}</ref> in particular for cars.<ref>Gil-Pareja, Salvador, and Simón Sosvilla-Rivero, [http://www.fedea.es/pub/Papers/2005/dt2005-22.pdf "Price Convergence in the European Car Market"], FEDEA, November 2005.</ref> A possible reason for the divergence between the different studies is that the processes of convergence may not have been linear, slowing down substantially between 2000 and 2003, and resurfacing after 2003 as suggested by a recent study (2009).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wiso.uni-hamburg.de/hepdoc/macppr_4_2009.pdf |first1=Ulrich |last1=Fritsche |first2=Sarah |last2=Lein |first3=Sebastian |last3=Weber |title=Do Prices in the EMU Converge (Non-linearly)? |publisher=University of Hamburg, Department Economics and Politics Discussion Papers, Macroeconomics and Finance Series |date=April 2009 |access-date=28 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719105515/http://www.wiso.uni-hamburg.de/hepdoc/macppr_4_2009.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2011 }}</ref>
-====Tourism====
+==== Tourism ====
 A study suggests that the introduction of the euro has had a positive effect on the amount of tourist travel within the EMU, with an increase of 6.5%.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gil-Pareja|first1=Salvador|last2=Llorca-Vivero|first2=Rafael|last3=Martínez-Serrano|first3=José|title=The Effect of EMU on Tourism|ssrn=983231|journal=Review of International Economics |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=302–312 |date=May 2007|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9396.2006.00620.x|s2cid=154503069}}</ref>
-==Exchange rates==
+== Exchange rates ==
-===Flexible exchange rates===
+=== Flexible exchange rates ===
 The ECB targets [[interest rate]]s rather than [[exchange rate]]s and in general, does not intervene on the foreign exchange rate markets. This is because of the implications of the [[Mundell–Fleming model]], which implies a central bank cannot (without [[capital control]]s) maintain interest rate and exchange rate targets simultaneously, because increasing the [[money supply]] results in a [[Currency appreciation and depreciation|depreciation]] of the currency. In the years following the [[Single European Act]], the EU has liberalised its capital markets and, as the ECB has [[inflation targeting]] as its [[monetary policy]], the exchange-rate regime of the euro is [[floating exchange rate|floating]].
-===Against other major currencies===
+=== Against other major currencies ===
-The euro is the second-most widely held [[reserve currency]] after the U.S. dollar. After its introduction on 4 January 1999 its exchange rate against the other major currencies fell reaching its lowest exchange rates in 2000 (3 May vs [[Pound sterling|sterling]], 25 October vs the [[U.S. dollar]], 26 October vs [[Japanese yen]]). Afterwards it regained and its exchange rate reached its historical highest point in 2008 (15 July vs US dollar, 23 July vs Japanese yen, 29 December vs sterling). With the onset of the [[2008 financial crisis]], the euro initially fell, to regain later. Despite pressure due to the [[euro area crisis]], the euro remained stable.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kirschbaum |first1=Erik |title=Schaeuble says markets have confidence in euro |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eurozone-schaeuble/schaeuble-says-markets-have-confidence-in-euro-idUSTRE77L0LK20110822 |access-date=28 March 2018}}</ref> In November 2011 the euro's exchange rate index&nbsp;– measured against currencies of the bloc's major trading partners&nbsp;– was trading almost two percent higher on the year, approximately at the same level as it was before the crisis began in 2007.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-markets-euro-mystery-idUKLNE7AE02520111115 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230043335/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-markets-euro-mystery-idUKLNE7AE02520111115 |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 December 2015 |title= Puzzle over euro's 'mysterious' stability |work=[[Reuters]] |date= 15 November 2011}}</ref> In mid July 2022, the euro and the US dollar traded at par for a short period of time during an episode of dollar [[Currency appreciation and depreciation|appreciation]].<ref name="NYTimes-2022" /> On 11 July 2024, it recorded a new high against the Japanese yen during a long period of [[Currency appreciation and depreciation|depreciation]] of the latter.<ref>{{Cite web |last=日本放送協会 |date=2024-07-11 |title=円相場 対ユーロで最安値を更新 {{!}} NHK |url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20240711/k10014509161000.html |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=NHKニュース}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-07 |title=Weekly Pairs in Focus - July 7 (Charts) |url=https://dailyforex.com/forex-technical-analysis/2024/07/pairs-in-focus-this-week-8th-july-13th-july-2024/214557 |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=DailyForex |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-01 |title=Japanese yen sinks to record low against euro |url=https://www.bastillepost.com/global/article/3958525/ |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=www.bastillepost.com}}</ref>
+The euro is the second-most widely held [[reserve currency]] after the U.S. dollar. After its introduction on 4 January 1999 its exchange rate against the other major currencies fell reaching its lowest exchange rates in 2000 (3 May vs [[Pound sterling|sterling]], 25 October vs the [[U.S. dollar]], 26 October vs [[Japanese yen]]). Afterwards it regained and its exchange rate reached its historical highest point in 2008 (15 July vs US dollar, 23 July vs Japanese yen, 29 December vs sterling). With the onset of the [[2008 financial crisis]], the euro initially fell, to regain later. Despite pressure due to the [[euro area crisis]], the euro remained stable.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kirschbaum |first1=Erik |title=Schaeuble says markets have confidence in euro |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eurozone-schaeuble/schaeuble-says-markets-have-confidence-in-euro-idUSTRE77L0LK20110822 |access-date=28 March 2018}}</ref> In November 2011 the euro's exchange rate index&nbsp;– measured against currencies of the bloc's major trading partners&nbsp;– was trading almost two percent higher on the year, approximately at the same level as it was before the crisis began in 2007.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-markets-euro-mystery-idUKLNE7AE02520111115 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230043335/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-markets-euro-mystery-idUKLNE7AE02520111115 |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 December 2015 |title= Puzzle over euro's 'mysterious' stability |work=[[Reuters]] |date= 15 November 2011}}</ref> In mid July 2022, the euro and the US dollar traded at par for a short period of time during an episode of dollar [[Currency appreciation and depreciation|appreciation]].<ref name="NYTimes-2022" /> On 8 October 2025, it recorded a new high against the Japanese yen during a long period of [[Currency appreciation and depreciation|depreciation]] of the latter.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Japanese yen (JPY) |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/eurofxref-graph-jpy.en.html |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=www.ecb.europa.eu}}</ref>
 {{multiple image
@@ Line 559: / Line 566: @@
 }}
-*Current and historical exchange rates against 32 other currencies (European Central Bank): ''[https://www.ecb.int/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/index.en.html link]''
+*Current and historical exchange rates against 30 other currencies (European Central Bank): ''[https://www.ecb.int/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/index.en.html link]''
 {{Exchange Rate|EUR|SEK|PLN|style=navbox}} <!-- The major world currencies are included "as standard", so this list is just for the two major European currencies  not on the default list. For other currencies, see the corresponding table at its article, which will give its rate v the euro. -->
-==Political considerations==
+== Political considerations ==
 Besides the economic motivations to the introduction of the euro, its creation was also partly justified as a way to foster a closer sense of joint identity between European citizens. Statements about this goal were for instance made by [[Wim Duisenberg]], European Central Bank Governor, in 1998,<ref>{{cite book |title=Global Finance After the Crisis|date= 2013|quote=The euro is far more than a medium of exchange. It is part of the identity of a people. It reflects what they have in common now and in the future.}}</ref> [[Laurent Fabius]], French Finance Minister, in 2000,<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Financial Times|date=24 July 2000|quote=Thanks to the euro, our pockets will soon hold solid evidence of a European identity|title=European identity}}</ref> and [[Romano Prodi]], President of the European Commission, in 2002.<ref>{{cite book|title=Speech to the European Parliament|date=16 January 2002 |quote=The euro is becoming a key element in peoples sense of shared European identity and common destiny.}}</ref> However, 15 years after the introduction of the euro, a study found no evidence that it has had any effect on a shared sense of European identity.<ref name=EER>{{cite journal |author1=Franz Buscha |title=Can a common currency foster a shared social identity across different nations? The case of the euro|journal=European Economic Review|date=November 2017 |volume=100 |pages=318–336 |url=http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/19659/1/EU_identity_V17_EER_revisions_2ndRound.pdf |doi=10.1016/j.euroecorev.2017.08.011|s2cid=102510742 }}</ref>
-Public support for the euro by country according to [[Eurobarometer]] 2024:<ref name="i768">{{cite report | title=Public opinion in the European Union: first results : report. | date=2024 | publisher=Publications Office of the European Union | doi=10.2775/437940 | url=https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/437940 | page = 26 | author1=European Commission. Directorate General for Communication. }}</ref>
+Public support for the euro by EU member state, according to a [[Eurobarometer]] opinion poll in 2024:<ref name="i768">{{cite report | title=Public opinion in the European Union: first results : report. | date=2024 | publisher=Publications Office of the European Union | doi=10.2775/437940 | url=https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2775/437940 | page = 26 | author1=European Commission. Directorate General for Communication. }}</ref>
+=== Eurozone ===
 {| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header"
 ! Country !! For % !! Against %
@@ Line 573: / Line 582: @@
 |-
 | {{flaglist|Belgium}}	||	82  ||  15
-|-
-| {{flaglist|Bulgaria}}	||	37  ||  47
 |-
 | {{flaglist|Croatia}}	||	71  ||  24
@@ Line 580: / Line 587: @@
 | {{flaglist|Cyprus}}	||	80  ||	16
 |-
-| {{flaglist|Czech Republic}}	||	30  || 62
+| {{flaglist|Estonia}}	|| rowspan="2" |	90  ||	8
 |-
-| {{flaglist|Denmark}}	||	34  ||	58
+| {{flaglist|Finland}}	||	7
-|-
-| {{flaglist|Estonia}}	||	90  ||	8
-|-
-| {{flaglist|Finland}}	||	90  ||	7
 |-
 | {{flaglist|France}}	||	74  ||	20
@@ Line 593: / Line 596: @@
 |-
 | {{flaglist|Greece}}	||	80  ||	16
-|-
-| {{flaglist|Hungary}}	||	65  || 28
 |-
 | {{flaglist|Ireland}}	||	88  ||	7
@@ Line 604: / Line 605: @@
 | {{flaglist|Lithuania}}	||	78  ||	15
 |-
-| {{flaglist|Luxembourg}}	||	90  ||	8
+| {{flaglist|Luxembourg}}	||	90  || rowspan="2" |	8
 |-
-| {{flaglist|Malta}}	||	89  ||	8
+| {{flaglist|Malta}}	||	89
 |-
 | {{flaglist|Netherlands}}	||	84  ||	13
-|-
-| {{flaglist|Poland}}	||	36  ||	51
 |-
 | {{flaglist|Portugal}}	||	81  ||	13
-|-
-| {{flaglist|Romania}}	||	54 	||	37
 |-
 | {{flaglist|Slovakia}}	||	86  ||	8
@@ Line 621: / Line 618: @@
 |-
 | {{flaglist|Spain}}	||	83  ||	11
+|}
+=== Countries not using the euro ===
+{| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header"
+! Country !! For % !! Against %
+|-
+| {{flaglist|Bulgaria}}	||	37  ||  47
+|-
+| {{flaglist|Czech Republic}}	||	30  || 62
+|-
+| {{flaglist|Denmark}}	||	34  ||	58
+|-
+| {{flaglist|Hungary}}	||	65  || 28
+|-
+| {{flaglist|Poland}}	||	36  ||	51
+|-
+| {{flaglist|Romania}}	||	54 	||	37
 |-
 | {{flaglist|Sweden}}	||	37  ||	56
 |}
-==''Euro'' in various official EU languages==
+== ''Euro'' in various official EU languages ==
 {{Main|Language and the euro}}
 The formal titles of the currency are ''euro'' for the major unit and ''cent'' for the minor (one-hundredth) unit and for official use in most eurozone languages; according to the ECB, all languages should use the same spelling for the nominative singular.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/conrep/cr200705en.pdf|title=European Central Bank, Convergence Report|date= May 2007|quote=The euro is the single currency of the member states that have adopted it. To make this singleness apparent, Community law requires a single spelling of the word ''euro'' in the nominative singular case in all community and national legislative provisions, taking into account the existence of different alphabets.|access-date=29 December 2008}}</ref> This may contradict normal rules for word formation in some languages.
-Bulgaria has negotiated an exception; ''euro'' in the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet is spelled {{lang|bg|eвро}} ({{transliteration|bg|evro}}) and not {{script|Cyrl|eуро}} (''{{transliteration|Cyrl|euro}}'') in all official documents.<ref>{{cite news|author=Elena Koinova |url=http://sofiaecho.com/2007/10/19/656777_evro-dispute-over-portuguese-foreign-minister |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603212303/http://sofiaecho.com/2007/10/19/656777_evro-dispute-over-portuguese-foreign-minister |archive-date=3 June 2011 |url-status=dead |title="Evro" Dispute Over&nbsp;– Portuguese Foreign Minister&nbsp;– Bulgaria |newspaper=The Sofia Echo |date=19 October 2007 |access-date=17 July 2011}}</ref> In the Greek script the term {{lang|el|ευρώ}} ({{transliteration|el|evró}}) is used; the Greek "cent" coins are denominated in {{lang|el|λεπτό/ά}} ({{transliteration|el|leptó/á}}). Official practice for English-language EU legislation is to use the words euro and cent as both singular and plural,<ref>European Commission. "Spelling of the words "euro" and "cent" in official community languages as used in community legislative acts" (PDF). Retrieved 12 January 2009.</ref> although the European Commission's [[Directorate-General for Translation (European Commission)|Directorate-General for Translation]] states that the plural forms ''euros'' and ''cents'' should be used in English.<ref>For example, see {{Cite web |publisher=European Commission Directorate-General for Translation |title=English Style Guide |at=para.{{nbsp}}20.8 |quote=''The euro.'' Like 'pound', 'dollar' or any other currency name in English, the word 'euro' is written in lower case with no initial capital and, where appropriate, takes the plural 's' (as does 'cent'). |url=http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205092625/http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf |archive-date=5 December 2010 |date=29 June 2010}}</ref>
+Official practice for English-language EU legislation is to use the words ''euro'' and ''cent'' as both singular and plural.<ref>{{cite report |publisher=European Commission |title=Spelling of the words "euro" and "cent" in official community languages as used in community legislative acts | quote=This spelling without an "s" may be seen as departing from usual English practice for currencies. |url=https://european-union.europa.eu/document/download/b9fdeae1-dc66-47a7-a902-fb941309e744_hr?filename=publication6336_en.pdf | access-date= 12 October 2025}}</ref> This practice is confirmed by the [[Directorate-General for Translation (European Commission)|Directorate-General for Translation]],{{efn|Prior to Brexit, the style guide advised conventional plurals in English.<ref>{{Cite web |title=English Style Guide |url=http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf |date=5 December 2010 |access-date=24 September 2017 |archive-date=5 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205092625/http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }} (archived copy, see §28.8)</ref>}} which states that the plural forms ''euro'' and ''cent'' should also be used in English.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=European Commission Directorate-General for Translation |title=English Style Guide |page=53 |quote=The euro: Like any other currency name in English, the word 'euro' is written in lower case with no initial capital. The plural of 'euro' is 'euro' (without 's'). The invariable plural form 'cent' is also preferred and is compulsory in legal acts |url=https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-11/styleguide_english_dgt_en.pdf |date=August 2025  | access-date= 12 October 2025}}</ref> Bulgaria has negotiated an exception; ''euro'' in the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet is spelled {{lang|bg|eвро}} ({{transliteration|bg|evro}}) and not *{{script|Cyrl|eуро}} (*''{{transliteration|Cyrl|euro}}'') in all official documents.<ref>{{cite news|author=Elena Koinova |url=http://sofiaecho.com/2007/10/19/656777_evro-dispute-over-portuguese-foreign-minister |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603212303/http://sofiaecho.com/2007/10/19/656777_evro-dispute-over-portuguese-foreign-minister |archive-date=3 June 2011 |url-status=dead |title="Evro" Dispute Over&nbsp;– Portuguese Foreign Minister&nbsp;– Bulgaria |newspaper=The Sofia Echo |date=19 October 2007 |access-date=17 July 2011}}</ref> In the Greek script the term {{lang|el|ευρώ}} ({{transliteration|el|evró}}) is used; the Greek "cent" coins are denominated in {{lang|el|λεπτό/ά}} ({{transliteration|el|leptó/á}}).
-The word 'euro' is pronounced differently according to pronunciation rules in the individual languages applied; in German {{IPA|de|ˈɔʏʁo|}}, in English {{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|ʊər|oʊ}}, in French {{IPA|fr|øʁo|}}, etc.
+The word "euro" is pronounced differently according to pronunciation rules in the individual languages applied; in German {{IPA|de|ˈɔʏʁo|}}, in English {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɪ|u|r|oʊ}}, in French {{IPA|fr|øʁo|}}, etc.
 <!-- Advice to editors: this paragraph is intended to be just a summary. If you wish to add material, please consider using the "Linguistic issues" article to do so.-->
@@ Line 678: / Line 693: @@
 For local phonetics, cent, use of plural and amount formatting (€6,00 or 6.00&nbsp;€), see [[Language and the euro#Written conventions for the euro in the languages of EU member states|Language and the euro]].
-==See also==
+== See also ==
 {{Portal|European Union|Europe}}
-* [[Captain Euro]], ''[[The Raspberry Ice Cream War]]''
+* {{anl|Captain Euro}}
-* [[Causes of the euro area crisis]]
+**{{anl|The Raspberry Ice Cream War|''The Raspberry Ice Cream War''}}
-* [[Currency union]]
+* {{anl|Euro area crisis}}
-* [[Digital euro]]
+** [[Causes of the euro area crisis]]
-* [[Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union]]
+** {{anl|Proposed long-term solutions for the eurozone crisis}}
-* [[Euro area crisis]]
+** {{anl|List of acronyms associated with the eurozone crisis}}
-* [[European integration]]
+* {{anl|Currency union}}
+* {{anl|Digital euro}}
+* {{anl|Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union}}
+* {{anl|European integration}}
 * [[History of the European Union]]
-* [[List of acronyms associated with the eurozone crisis]]
 * [[List of circulating currencies]]
 * [[List of currencies in Europe]]
-* [[Proposed long-term solutions for the eurozone crisis]]
+* {{anl|Withdrawal from the eurozone}}
-* [[Withdrawal from the eurozone]]
 == Notes ==
@@ Line 699: / Line 715: @@
 {{notelist}}
-==References==
+== References ==
 {{reflist}}
-==Further reading==
+== Further reading ==
 * {{cite journal |author2=Taylor, Stephen J. |author3=Wang, Yaw-Huei |date=May 2007 |title=The Euro and European Financial Market Dependence |journal=Journal of Banking and Finance |volume=51 |issue=5 |pages=1461–1481 |doi= 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2006.07.014|ssrn=924333 |last1=Bartram |first1=Söhnke M. |url=http://ntur.lib.ntu.edu.tw/news/agent_contract.pdf}}
 * {{cite journal |author2=Karolyi, G. Andrew |date=October 2006 |title=The Impact of the Introduction of the Euro on Foreign Exchange Rate Risk Exposures |journal=Journal of Empirical Finance |volume=13 |issue=4–5 |pages=519–549 |doi= 10.1016/j.jempfin.2006.01.002|ssrn=299641 |last1=Bartram |first1=Söhnke M.}}
@@ Line 710: / Line 726: @@
 *{{cite book|last1=Simonazzi|first1=A. |last2=Vianello |first2=F. |chapter=Financial Liberalization, the European Single Currency and the Problem of Unemployment |editor1-last=Franzini |editor1-first=R. |editor2-last=Pizzuti |editor2-first=R.F.|title=Globalization, Institutions and Social Cohesion|date=2001|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-540-67741-3}}
-==External links==
+== External links ==
 {{Sister project links}}
 * [https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/euro_en European Union – Euro]
@@ Line 722: / Line 738: @@
 {{European Union topics}}
 {{Currencies of Europe}}
+{{Currencies of Asia}}
+{{Currencies of the Americas}}
 {{Currencies of Africa}}
-{{Currencies of the Americas}}
-{{Currencies of Asia}}
 {{Charlemagne Prize recipients}}
 }}
@@ Line 733: / Line 749: @@
 [[Category:1999 in economic history]]
 [[Category:Currencies introduced in 1999]]
-[[Category:Currencies introduced in 2002]]
+[[Category:Currencies of Europe]]
-[[Category:Currencies of South America]]
+[[Category:Currencies of Asia]]<!-- Cyprus is geographically Asian -->
-[[Category:Currencies of the Caribbean]]
+[[Category:Currencies of Africa]]<!-- Spanish, Portuguese and French territories -->
-[[Category:Currencies of Zimbabwe]]
+[[Category:Currencies of South America]]<!-- French territories -->
-[[Category:Currencies of Finland]]
+[[Category:Currencies of the Caribbean]]<!-- French territories -->
-[[Category:Currencies of Africa]]
+[[Category:Currencies of North America]]<!-- French territories -->
 [[Category:Circulating currencies]]
-[[Category:Currencies of Asia]]
-[[Category:Currencies of Europe]]

Euro: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 13:58, 18 November 2025

Characteristics

Administration

Countries that use the euro

Eurozone members

Special territories of members of the European Economic Area

Other users

EU members not using the euro

Acceding to the eurozone

Committed to adopt the euro

Opt-outs

Coins and banknotes

Coins

Coin minting

Banknotes

Issuing modalities for banknotes

Banknote printing

Payments clearing, electronic funds transfer

History

Introduction

Currency sign

Eurozone crisis

Direct and indirect usage

Agreed direct usage with minting rights

Agreed direct usage without minting rights

Unilateral direct usage

Currencies pegged to the euro

Use as reserve currency

Economics

Optimal currency area

Transaction costs and risks

Price parity

Macroeconomic stability

Trade

Investment

Inflation

Exchange rate risk

Financial integration

Effect on interest rates

Price convergence

Tourism

Exchange rates

Flexible exchange rates

Against other major currencies

Political considerations

Eurozone

Countries not using the euro

Euro in various official EU languages

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

Navigation menu

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