Euro
Euro launches in 11 states and the Eurosystem takes responsibility for monetary policy
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗Eleven currencies became locked denominations of a single currency — while every familiar national banknote stayed exactly where it was, in people's wallets.
1 January 1999: Stage Three begins
Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union began on 1 January 1999. Exchange rates for the currencies of the 11 initial participants became irrevocably fixed, and responsibility for their single monetary policy passed to the Eurosystem — the European Central Bank together with the 11 national central banks.
The euro replaced the official ECU at one euro per ECU. The participating national currency units became denominations of the euro rather than separate currencies with adjustable exchange rates.
A launch with no banknotes
The launch was initially non-cash. Euro-denominated accounts, payments and financial instruments could operate while national banknotes and coins remained in circulation; euro cash reached the public only in 2002.
Over the changeover weekend, financial institutions converted electronic records and adjusted payment and securities systems. The first regular financial-market trading in euros began on 4 January, and ECB employees were themselves paid in euros from launch day.
What the date does and does not mark
The Council of the European Union adopted the irrevocable conversion rates on 31 December 1998, and they took legal effect with Stage Three the following day. The ECB itself had been established earlier, on 1 June 1998, under president Willem F. Duisenberg.
What changed hands was euro-area monetary-policy competence, not every present-day ECB function — and it passed to the Eurosystem rather than to the ECB acting without the national central banks.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes
How this was checked
Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →
What the sources leave uncertain
- The date is firm, but the listed wording conflates distinct steps: the Council adopted conversion rates on 31 December 1998, they took legal effect with Stage Three on 1 January 1999, and the ECB itself had existed since 1 June 1998.