Highlights EURO Exchange Rates . The euro replaced the currencies of eleven countries at midnight on December 31, 1998. These rates must be used, and this process of converting via the euro is also compulsory within the euro-area. The euro is divided into 100 cents.
National currencies continue to exist for the next three years as denominations of the euro.
Notes and coins in national currencies will remain legal tender until early 2002. Each euro-area country will decide for itself exactly when they stop being legal tender, but it must be before July 1, 2002. The symbol is also used. Software, keyboards and printers which recognize and use this symbol are increasingly becoming available. Some other European Union institutions prefer 'euro' as the plural.