Brief History and Implementation Schedule On January 1, 1999, eleven European countries replaced their national currencies and introduced a single European currency, the Euro. Some feel the euro is simply the ECU (European Currency Unit) renamed since the ECU's were exchanged one-for-one for new euros. Bills and coins for the national currencies will remain in circulation as sub-denominations of the euro until January 1, 2002, ("E-day") when they will be exchanged against new euro coins and bills. Within six …showed first 75 words of 2337 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2337 total…arrival as an equal to the superpower across the pond. Fixed Conversion Rate of the 11 Euro Members Country Conversion Rate Belgium 1 euro = 40.3399 Belgian francs (BEF) Germany 1 euro = 1.95583 German marks (DEM) Spain 1 euro = 166.386 Spanish pesetas (ESP) France 1 euro = 6.55957 French francs (FRF) Ireland 1 euro = .787564 Irish pounds (IEP) Italy 1 euro = 1936.27 Italian lire (ITL) Luxembourg 1 euro = 40.3399 Luxembourg francs (LUV) Netherlands 1 euro = 2.20371 Dutch guilders (NLG) Austria 1 euro = 13.7603 Austrian shillings (ATS) Portugal 1 euro = 200.482 Portuguese escudos (PTE) Finland 1 euro = 5.94573 Finnish marks (FIM)