Euro

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Euro coins and banknotes.

Euro is the currency (money) of the countries in Eurozone. One euro is subdivided into 100 cent. The plural (more than one) is the same, euro and cent, because of the number of different languages in the EU

It was created in 1999, but until 1 January 2002 it was used only for electronic methods. In 2002, 12 countries of the EU (The European Union) got rid of their national currencies completely and adopted euro notes and coins as their only money. There was a change-over period, called the "transition period" when both the old national money and the euro was accepted, but by 28 February 2002, all 12 countries were using just euros.

In 2007, Slovenia became the 13th country to use the euro. In 2008 Cyprus and Malta became the 14th and 15 countries to use the euro.

There are 7 different banknotes, each one with a different colour, size and face value: €5 (grey), €10 (red), €20 (blue), €50 (orange), €100 (green), €200 (yellow), €500 (purple).

Coins are of 8 different amounts: €0.01, €0.02, €0.05, €0.10, €0.20, €0.50, €1, €2.

On every banknote, there is a picture of a different European building style. All banknotes are the same throughout the entire Eurozone - there are no different designs for different countries, unlike the euro coins. One side of each coin is the same in all euro countries. The other side is different since each country who mints the coins inserts a symbol relating to that country. Today there are 12 different sets of coins. Any of the coins can be used everywhere throughout the Eurozone despite the country-specific symbol on the back.

The 10 new European countries that entered the EU in May 2004 are planning to also adopt the Euro. First they must meet some conditions to show that they have stable economies.