1979 European Monetary System was established. The Treaty on European Union signed in 1992 in Maastricht provides for the creation and use of a single currency in EU member states. Denmark and the United Kingdom have decided not to join the euro at this time. Greece and Sweden do not fulfill the necessary conditions to take part in the single currency at the moment. The establishment of a single European currency will provide for easier market access to the world's largest regional economy.
Several steps are necessary before euro notes are circulated and national currencies are withdrawn.
The time frame for implementation of the euro is as follows. In other words, the Belgian franc will always be converted at the same rate into Dutch guilders, at the same rate to French francs, etc. Although the euro will not replace national currencies fully until 2002, financial transactions in euros will be available through commercial banking institutions from 1999 onward. Info on the euro is available from the homepage of the European institutions and from the Department of Commerce. When a currency exceeded this range the central bank in charge had to buy it or sell it, in order to bring it back to the range.