Europe's biggest ‘success story’ celebrates the official 20th anniversary

The euro exists as of the new year 'officially' twenty years. According to Brussels, is that something to celebrate, because the currency is seen as one of europe's biggest success stories ever. But the euro also had deep valleys, for example, during the euro crisis with Greece.

In January 1999 the euro was introduced as an accounting unit for the financial markets. For the general public was the new money until the beginning of 2002 to use, therefor, you could in Europe not yet using euro coins to pay,

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, recalls the long process in advance. As the Finance minister of Luxembourg, he was there in 1992 already when the Maastricht treaty was signed.

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“I am convinced that this is the main signature that I've ever taken,” said Juncker. Also European president Donald Tusk stressed the importance of the currency. “The creation of the euro twenty years ago was a turning point in European history, together with the liberation of Central and Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany,” said Tusk.

at the same time disclaim both European leaders to ensure that the resilience of the euro with a view to future crises, must be strengthened. “There can be no doubt about our political will”, said Juncker. “We should be prepared for what the future may bring.”

Logical consequence

According to Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), the introduction of the euro will mainly be seen as a logical and necessary consequence of the common European market. Draghi lists also some benefits: “it makes It easier to stay within the euro area and beyond, to travel, to act and to execute transactions.”

Research from Brussels indicates that approximately three quarters of the citizens in the euro area countries, there are now convinced that the euro is good for the economy. But in the last few years, there is also much skepticism about the euro.