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The euro was born at midnight on 1 January 1999. Initially, it was just in electronic form, mainly used by banks and the financial markets. Twenty years later, we’re celebrating its birthday! We’ll have another good reason to celebrate in 2022 when it will be the 20th anniversary of euro banknotes and coins.
The new euro banknotes feature an image of Europa. She is a figure from Greek mythology and the origin of our continent’s name. The image is taken from a vase that is over 2,000 years old. The vase was originally found in southern Italy and is now displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Our main task is to keep prices stable in the euro area so that you are able to buy as much with your euros tomorrow as you can today. So far we have delivered on our mandate: inflation has averaged 1.7% since the birth of the euro!
If you travel to Mayotte or La Réunion it’s worth remembering that you can also use your euros there! These two islands, which are located in the Indian Ocean, are overseas departments of France where people also pay in euros.
Although the ECB’s interest rates contribute to price stability in the euro area, they have nothing to do with the design of the euro symbol. The two parallel lines represent the currency’s stability. The Greek letter epsilon was chosen as a reference to the cradle of European civilisation.
There’s no doubt that Paris and Moscow are brilliant destinations, however, to collect all the euro banknotes you’d actually have to walk from the earth to the moon and back two and half times. That’s a long walk… But you’d come back with banknotes worth €633 billion in your pocket!
It’s a survey that measures European people’s support for the euro, among other things. According to the autumn 2018 edition, support for the single currency stands at 75% in the euro area, the highest level since 2004. Thank you for supporting the euro!
Although the monetary policy decisions are fundamental, we don’t bury them under our building! In addition to the building’s plans, the newspapers and the banknotes, inside the stone there are also sets of euro coins from 16 countries that were part of the euro area in 2010, as well as a coin from the City of Frankfurt.
We use forward guidance to communicate our policy intentions. This tool makes our policy more effective and helps us to achieve our main objective of serving people by keeping prices stable across the euro area.
They will not be followed by a new €500. In 2016 the ECB decided to permanently stop producing the €500 banknote and to exclude it from the Europa series.
He said: “Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough.” Mr Draghi is said to have restored confidence in the euro with this powerful message.
Florin, ducat and franken were considered but rejected because of their national connotations. And who is Belle? She’s our favourite cat! You’ll find her on our Twitter account.
Visit #EUROat20 hub