A Decade of Euro ~ Thematic Philatelic News

A DECADE OF EURO €

On the occasion of tenth birthday of The Euro, members of the European union have issued postage stamps on euro.

The euro was launched on 1 January 1999, it became the new official currency of 11 Member States (Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, and Finland), replacing the old national currencies in two stages.First introduced as a virtual currency for cash-less payments and accounting purposes, while the old currencies continued to be used for cash payments and considered as 'sub-units' of the euro, it then appeared in physical form, as banknotes and coins, on 1 January 2002.

The euro is not the currency of all EU Member States. Two countries (Denmark and the United Kingdom) agreed an ‘opt-out’ clause in the Treaty exempting them from participation, while the remainder (many of the newest EU members plus Sweden) have yet to meet the conditions for adopting the single currency. Once they do so, they will replace their national currency with the euro.

When the euro came into being, monetary policy became the responsibility of the independent European Central Bank (ECB), which was created for that purpose, and the national central banks of the Member States having adopted the euro. Together they compose the Eurosystem.

The € symbol is inspired in the Greek epsilon - a reference to the first letter of the word Europe, crossed by two parallel lines to ‘certify’ the stability of the Euro. Euro zone countries use the same designs in their banknotes, which were chosen from 44 proposals in a design competition, launched by the Council of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) in 1996 and in which the winning entry was created by Austrian born Robert Kalina. The designs have a common theme of European architecture in various artistic periods, from classic to modern XX century architecture The front of the note features windows or gateways while the back has bridges. Both sides bear the 12 stars characteristic of the European Union. Every banknote has more than 30 security features which include: The paper used which is 100% pure cotton fibre, the watermark depicting a special design observed by holding the note up to the light and the holographic band imprinted with the note's denomination. In the case of the €50 notes and higher, the band is replaced with a holographic decal.

Coins have a common reverse for all countries in the Euro zone chosen by the European Commission but each country has its own design on the obverse besides the twelve stars.

These countries have issued stamps on Tenth aniversary of The Euro.

1. Belgium

Date of issue: 19/01/2009

2.LUXEMBOURG

Date of Issue : 17/03/2009

3. MALTA

Date of Issue: 30/04/09

4. PORTUGAL

Date of Issue : 28/01/2009

5. SPAIN

Date of Issue : 10/07/09

This Slovakian issue is not issued for 10th anniversary of The Euro but on introduction of the common euro currency in the Slovak Republic effective from 1 January 2009, But is is coincided with 10th anniversaryof the Euro. This is also first euro issue of Slovakia.

Date of Issue: 01/01/09

There are Sixteen Countries who uses The Euro as There Currency. The List and time line is as below.Countries have adopted the Euro

1999	Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg,the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland

2001	Greece
2002	Introduction of euro banknotes and coins
2007	Slovenia
2008	Cyprus, Malta
2009	Slovakia

The euro is the currency of the 329 million people who live in the 16 euro-area countries. It is also used, either formally as legal tender or for practical purposes, by a whole array of other countries such as close neighbours and former colonies.

It is therefore not surprising that the euro has rapidly become the second most important international currency after the dollar, and in some respects (e.g. the value of cash in circulation) has even overtaken it.

(Information Courtesy : europa.eu and Philatelic web site of respective country )

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