The dedication of the Euro on January 1st, 2002 marked a watershed moment in history. For much of the 20th century--indeed, for much of the second millennium A.D.--European nations were at war with one another. The 20th century saw some of the most bitter internecine fighting on the continent the world has ever seen, including two World Wars and countless minor wars, battles, and skirmishes. Thus, even though the moment of the Euro's release was by and large symbolic of detente, it was a significant moment, indeed. At least 50 billion coins have been released thus far, and billions more are in the works. The Euro was designed by a Belgian named Lue Luyex, who came up with a design to feature landmarks and maps from each of the 12 contributing European nations. The bridges, gates, and windows depicted in this new currency invoke a tone of reconciliation and openness among these formerly hostile powers. All told, there are hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Euro currency notes now in circulation. These are divided into several main denominations--one, two, five, 10, 20, 50, and 100 cent coins. There has been a fractious debate among the European banking community as to how to incorporate the newest members of the European Union into the currency. For instance, if a new member state decides that it wants to abandon its currency in favor of the Euro, how and when will the country be represented in the currency? These and other questions about the Euro will likely provoke heated debate across the continent for years, as the E.U. grows and evolves. |
