when was the euro introduced as legal currency
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).
Czech Republic and the euro The Czech Republic, a member of the European Union (EU), uses the Czech koruna as its currency, regulated by the Czech National Bank, a member of the European System of Central Banks, and does not participate in European Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II). It is bound by its 2003 Treaty of Accession to the EU to adopt the euro and join the eurozone once it has satisfied the euro convergence criteria.