Euro vs US Dollar

I. The EURO

The euro (currency sign: €; banking code: EUR) is the official currency of the European Union (EU), used in 15 member states, known collectively as the Eurozone (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain). It is also used in 9 other countries around the world, 7 of those being in Europe. Hence it is the single currency for over 320 million Europeans Including areas using currencies pegged to the euro, the euro directly affects close to 500 million people worldwide With more than €610 billion in circulation as of December 2006 (equivalent to US$802 billion at the exchange rates at the time), the euro is the currency with the highest combined value of cash in circulation in the world, having surpassed the U.S. dollar.

The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency in 1999 and launched as physical coins and banknotes on 1 January 2002. It replaced the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1.

The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) and the Eurosystem (composed of the central banks of the euro zone countries). As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all member states, and the operation of the Eurozone payment systems.

While all European Union (EU) member states are eligible to join if they comply with certain monetary requirements, not all EU members have chosen to adopt the currency. All nations that have joined the EU since the 1993 implementation of the Maastricht Treaty have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Maastricht obliged current members to join the euro; however, the United Kingdom and Denmark negotiated exemptions from that requirement for themselves. Sweden turned down the euro in a 2003 referendum, and has circumvented the requirement to join the euro area by not meeting the membership criteria. In addition, three European microstates (Vatican City, Monaco, and San Marino), although not EU members, have adopted the euro due to currency unions with member states. Andorra, Montenegro, and Kosovo have adopted the euro unilaterally, while not being EU members either .

A. Currency sign

The official construction of the euro logo, which was specified to be printed in Pantone Yellow on a Reflex Blue background

A special euro currency sign (€) was designed after a public survey had narrowed the original ten proposals down to two. The European Commission then chose the final design. The eventual winner was a design created by the Belgian Alain Billiet. The official story of the design history of the euro sign is disputed by Arthur Eisenmenger, a former chief graphic designer for the EEC, who claims to have created it as a generic symbol of Europe.

The glyph is, according to the European Commission, "a combination of the Greek epsilon, as a sign of the weight of European civilization; an E for Europe; and the parallel lines crossing through standing for the stability of the euro".

The European Commission also specified a euro logo with exact proportions and foreground/background colour tones. While the Commission intended the logo to be a prescribed glyph shape, font designers made it clear that they intended to design their own variants instead.

Placement of the currency sign varies from nation to nation. There are no official standards on where to place the euro sign.

Another advantage to the final chosen symbol is that it is easily created on a typewriter lacking the euro sign, by typing a capital 'C', backspacing and overstriking it with the equal ('=') sign.

B. All shapes and sizes

The European Central Bank (ECB) has the exclusive right to authorise the issue of euro banknotes by the national central banks of the euro area. The responsibility for producing them and putting them into circulation is shared among national central banks. Coins are issued by euro area Member States in volumes approved each year by the ECB and production is entrusted to the national mints.

The different sizes and contrasting colours and relief patterns of euro banknotes help people – including the visually impaired – recognise the denominations. The notes come in 5-, 10-, 20-, 50-, 100-, 200- and 500-euro denominations. There are various security features in the notes, such as a watermark, security thread and hologram, to stop counterfeiters and help recognise a genuine banknote.

Advanced technical specifications were also developed for the coins, making illegal reproduction, especially for the 1- and 2-euro coins, extremely difficult. The eight denominations of coins vary in size, colour and thickness according to their values, which are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents, and 1 euro and 2 euros.