On 1 January 1999, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain adopted the euro as their common currency.
Today, the euro is the official currency of 20 Member States (those already mentioned plus Greece, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Croatia). It is also used officially in Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City, as well as in Montenegro and Kosovo without a formal arrangement.
At present, 346 million people use the euro, and it has become a tangible symbol of European integration.