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KF5JRV > TODAY 04.01.19 14:36l 44 Lines 2417 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 28613_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 04
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<SR1BSZ<GB7CIP<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190104/1234Z 28613@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.17
On this day in 1999, for the first time since Charlemagne’s reign in the
ninth century, Europe is united with a common currency when the “euroö
debuts as a financial unit in corporate and investment markets. Eleven
European Union (EU) nations (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain),
representing some 290 million people, launched the currency in the hopes
of increasing European integration and economic growth. Closing at a
robust 1.17 U.S. dollars on its first day, the euro promised to give the
dollar a run for its money in the new global economy. Euro cash,
decorated with architectural images, symbols of European unity and
member-state motifs, went into circulation on January 1, 2002, replacing
the Austrian schilling, Belgian franc, Finnish markka, French franc,
German mark, Italian lira, Irish punt, Luxembourg franc, Netherlands
guilder, Portugal escudo and Spanish peseta. A number of territories and
non-EU nations including Monaco and Vatican City also adopted the euro.
Conversion to the euro wasn’t without controversy. Despite the practical
benefits of a common currency that would make it easier to do business
and travel throughout Europe, there were concerns that the changeover
process would be costly and chaotic, encourage counterfeiting, lead to
inflation and cause individual nations to loose control over their
economic policies. Great Britain, Sweden and Demark opted not to use the
euro. Greece, after initially being excluded for failing to meet all the
required conditions, adopted the euro in January 2001, becoming the 12th
member of the so-called eurozone.
The euro was established by the 1992 Maastricht Treaty on European
Union, which spelled out specific economic requirements, including high
degree of price stability and low inflation, which countries must meet
before they can begin using the new money. The euro consists of 8 coins
and 7 paper bills. The Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB)
manages the euro and sets interest rates and other monetary policies. In
2004, 10 more countries joined the EU—-Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Several of these countries plan to start using the euro in 2007, with
the rest to follow in coming years.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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