PARIS, Dec 26, 2011 (AFP) - Key dates in the history of the euro since the currency was circulated in 2002:
2002
- January 1: Euro notes and coins are introduced across 12 states (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain), becoming legal tender and replacing their national currencies. The currency enters, three years after its birth on January 1, 1999, the daily lives of 304 million Europeans.
- March 1: National currencies, which have circulated alongside the single currency for two months, are withdrawn.
- July 15: The euro reaches parity with the dollar.
2003
- September 14: Sweden says "no" to the euro by 55.9 percent of votes in a referendum.
2007
- January 1: Slovenia becomes the first former communist country to enter the eurozone, less than three years after joining the European Union.
2008
- January 1: Malta and Cyprus are admitted to the eurozone.
- July 15: The euro hits a record high of 1.6038 against the dollar, which is weighed down by the global financial crisis.
- October 12: EU leaders adopt a plan to confront the financial crisis involving hundreds of billions of dollars of new initiatives.
- November 14: The eurozone officially enters recession, the worst for 60 years. It emerges a year later.
2009
- January 1: The eurozone admits its 16th member, Slovakia.
- May 7: The European Central Bank cuts its main interest rate to a record low of 1.0 percent and says it will start buying bonds to stimulate the economy.
- December: Concerns rise over the sovereign debts of some eurozone members, notably Greece.
2010
- May 2: After crisis talks, eurozone governments agree to a massive bailout plan for Greece, the first victim of the debt crisis, with input from the International Monetary Fund.
- May 10: The EU announces plans to set its own bailout fund -- European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
- June 4: The euro falls under 1.20 dollars for the first time since March 2006.
- November 28: The EU and IMF agree on a 85 billion euro bailout for Ireland.
2011
- January 1: Estonia becomes the 17th eurozone member. More than 330 million Europeans now use euro notes and coins.
- May 5: The EU and IMF agree a 78 billion euro bailout for Portugal.
- July 21: Eurozone leaders agree on a new bailout for Greece worth 159 billion euros and to boost the eurozone's bailout fund.
- August 16: France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel vow to give the eurozone bloc a "true economic government" and say they will propose an EU-wide tax on financial transactions.
Over a week, the ECB buys 22 billion euros of government bonds in a bid to support Italy and Spain which are attacked on the markets.
- October 27: Eurozone members agree on a pact to tackle the debt crisis, by shoring up the bailout fund and pushing banks to take a loss on Greece's debt.
- December 9: EU leaders, excepting Britain, band together to back tighter budget policing after a heated summit.
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