Europe's strongest pillar

Twenty years on, the euro is both successful and popular

Twenty years ago, on January 1, 1999, a new currency came into being. Eleven members of the European Union fixed their currencies’ exchange rates against each other, thereby creating a new, single currency zone; in 2002, euro notes and coins began to be exchanged and over the years that followed the number of eurozone countries expanded to 19. Now, only eight other members of the European Union do not use the euro — excluding, of course, the United Kingdom, which is due to leave the EU in a few months. The euro is now the second most powerful currency in