The euro turns 10 on 1 January

Europe launched a controversial shared currency 10 years ago, on 1 January 1999, and soon saw it plummet to a level that required bailing out by central banks.

Now, as the currency’s tenth anniversary approaches on 1 January, economists say that the euro is at last fulfilling the expectations of its proponents as a means of easing trade and tourism, encouraging growth, lowering borrowing costs and providing overall strength to the European community.

The currency is now making these strides in the midst of a global economic crisis that there’s safety in numbers – in this case by joining together in one currency.

“After 10 years it has truly created a zone of security and stability,” said Christine Lagarde, the French Finance Minister, in mid-December. “From all these points of view, the euro has in fact proven wrong the forecasts some made against the euro 10 years ago.”

In 1999 when the euro was launched for non-cash purposes, there were just 11 countries on board: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. On 1 January 2002, bank notes and coins were added. Since then, the original participating member countries have been joined by Cyprus, Greece, Malta and Slovenia. Slovakia is slated to join on 1 January 2009, raising the number to 16.

Some of the long-time holdout countries, including Britain and Sweden, are now beginning to reconsider their position on the currency.

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ec.europa.eu