the european common currency the euro was established by
History of the euro The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, although it had been a goal of the European Union (EU) and its predecessors since the 1960s. After tough negotiations, particularly due to opposition from the United Kingdom, the Maastricht Treaty entered into force in 1993 with the goal of creating an economic and monetary union by 1999 for all EU states except the UK and Denmark (even though Denmark has a fixed exchange rate policy with the euro).
Euro sign Placement of the sign also varies. Partly since there are no official standards on placement,[9] countries have generated varying conventions or sustained those of their former currencies. For example, in Ireland and the Netherlands, where previous currency signs (£ and ƒ, respectively) were placed before the figure, the euro sign is universally placed in the same position.[10] In many other countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Latvia[11] and Lithuania, an amount such as €3,50 is usually written as 3,50 € instead, largely in accordance with conventions for previous currencies.