Exactly 20 years ago, a single European currency found a cash form: January 1, 2002 Residents of 12 countries received the first banknotes and coins of the euro, reports Euronews.
To this, three years euro existed in non-cash form. European finance ministers celebrated anniversary on a modest ceremony.
Today, the euro has become one of the world reserve currencies and replaced national money in 19 countries with a population of 340 million people. In the coming years, several other states, including Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, and Romania, noted by France-Presse.
In the countries that have long switched to a single European currency, this transition does not find unanimous support among the population: Skeptics celebrate the rise in prices for some products. Some inexpensive casual products really went up due to rounding prices, AFP writes, but prices for other, more expensive products, did not increase or even decreased.
In addition, the introduction of the euro stabilized inflation in most countries, the agency notes.