International Economics Commons^™

The Euro: Ready Or Not? A Retrospective On European Unification: Some Lessons For 1999, Joseph Santos

Economics Pamphlet Series

On January 1, 1999, fifteen independent nation-states of Europe are set to relinquish their national currencies in favor of a single European monetary unit, called the euro. While the origins of the European Union (EU) (formerly referred to as the European Community) date back to the Marshall Plan, the inception of the euro occurred in February of 1992 with the passage of the Treaty on European Union, or Maastricht Treaty. Though the prospect of a European Monetary Union (EMU) has attracted many observers from the economics, finance, and business communities, the history of the EU, and its current plan to …