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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;chrisild, post: 702964, member: 39&quot;]The euro was created on 1 January 1999 - you may have seen this year&#039;s €2 commems that refer to 10 Years of the Economic and Monetary Union. Since the euro basically replaced the European Currency Unit (ECU) on a 1-1 basis, the value of the € in terms of DM, FF, etc. was somewhat predictable. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p>Some changes were necessary, for example because some of the euro countries had not been ECU countries and vice versa. But here in Germany for example we pretty much knew that 1 euro would be about 2 marks - and since Jan-1999 the official rate has been 1.95583 ...</p><p><br /></p><p>Nowadays, when a country plans to join the currency union, it needs to be in the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM-II) first. If the exchange rate then stays within a +/- 15% fluctuation band for two years, and if some other convergence criteria are met, it can join.</p><p><br /></p><p>Theoretically all European Union member states that meet the convergence criteria have to join the currency union. There are two &quot;opt-out&quot; countries, however - the United Kingdom (which does not have anything to do with the euro) and Denmark (which is in ERM-II and with an even narrower fluctuation band of 2.25%). As for the others, well, as I wrote, they &quot;theoretically&quot; need to join. Practically however you don&#039;t really want any members in the currency union that could be damaging for the entire project.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Dunno; why would the US use the euro anyway? <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie11" alt=":rolleyes:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Then again, &quot;Frizio&quot; (a graphic artist) designed this a few years ago ...</p><p><a href="http://www.webalice.it/annovi.frizio/coinsfantasy/dollar-euro500.gif" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.webalice.it/annovi.frizio/coinsfantasy/dollar-euro500.gif" rel="nofollow">http://www.webalice.it/annovi.frizio/coinsfantasy/dollar-euro500.gif</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Christian[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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