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 coins There are eight different denominations of euro coins: 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, €1 and €2.[12] The 1c, 2c and 5c coins show Europe in relation to Asia and Africa in the world.[12] The remaining coins show the EU before its enlargement in May 2004 if minted before 1 January 2007, or a geographical map of Europe if minted after.[12] Coins from Italy, San Marino, the Vatican City, Austria and Portugal show the geographical map if minted in 2008 or later.[12]