The euro (currency sign: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of fifteen member states of the European Union (EU). The states, known collectively as the Eurozone are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain. The currency is also used in five further countries with formal agreements and six other countries without such agreements. Hence it is the single currency for over 317 million Europeans.[1] Including areas using currencies pegged to the euro, the euro directly affects close to 500 million people worldwide.[2] 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 (USD).[3]
Poll Results
| Option | Votes |
| euro | 19 |
| I live inside a geodesic dome and have never heard of this thing, despite it being in existence for 10 years | 4 |
― sonderangerbots and loops (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 02:54 (seventeen years ago)