Money: The Euro

On 1 January 1999 eleven European Union Member States (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland) adopted the euro as their national currency (in scriptural form). These Member States were selected by the European Council in early May 1998 to participate in the European Monetary Union, since they had fulfilled the convergence criteria laid down in the Maastricht Treaty.

On 19 June 2000, the EU Council at its meeting in Santa Maria da Feira, having assessed that Greece fulfils the requirements of the Treaty, approved its accession to the euro area as a twelfth member as from 1.1. 2001. At the same time, the irrevocable conversion rate of the drachma vis à vis the euro was set at GRD 340.750 effective from 1 January 2001, which is equal to its central rate within the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), applying as of 17 January 2000.

In other words the money used in Greece is the Euro and the drachma is history.

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