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The euro is introduced

Jan 1999

Eleven countries give up control of their own currency

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The construction was unusual: a common monetary policy without a common fiscal one. Economists warned at the time that a shock affecting countries unevenly would be hard to manage, since no country could devalue its way out. The debt crisis after 2009 was the test of exactly that weakness, and led the union to build the shared crisis mechanisms it originally lacked.

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Eleven European countries adopted a common currency — at first only on paper, and from 2002 as notes and coins. In doing so they gave up the ability to set their own interest rates.

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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org · Last changed 2026-08-15