The Euro – The Common Currency in EU

The euro is the common currency in 15 EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Cy-prus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. With the exception of Cyprus, Greece, Malta and Slovenia, all of the euro area countries have participated in the common currency since its introduction in 1999. Greece introduced the euro on 1 January 2001, Slovenia on 1 January 2007, and Cyprus and Malta on 1 January 2008. Slovakia is expected to join introduce the euro on 1 January 2009.

On 1 January 1999 the euro was introduced. Initially, it only worked as an elec-tronic currency, but on 1 January 2002 euro coins and notes were put in circula-tion in the euro area.

The 15 countries who have introduced the euro share a common monetary and exchange rate policy, which is managed by the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Denmark has not introduced the euro, but is tightly connected to it due to the Danish fixed exchange rate vis-à-vis the euro. The Danish fixed exchange rate regime is managed within the frames of the ERM II, which implies that the main objective of the Danish monetary policy is to secure a fixed exchange rate vis-à-vis the euro.