ught that the Euro may hold strong against the dollar, but that was not the case. Some believe that part of the reason is due to the strength of the U.S. economy. It hasn't been since the fall of the Roman Empire since much of Western Europe has had a single currency. The idea of a single currency for Europe isn't new. Since the end of World War II the idea of a single European Currency surfaced. French Leaders Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman agreed that European economic integration was a key of embracing Germany and keeping them oriented towards the ways of the west. German political leaders such as Konrad Adenauer, Helmut Kohl, and Gerhard Schroeder have backed the integration along with the French, though almost entirely through economic and monetary means. Although the Euro has officially been introduced, you still can't go to a bank and get actual coins and bills. That is, there isn't actually any Euro coins or paper in circulation, yet. Currently the Euro exists only electronically, through checks, credit cards, or bank transfers. During the second week of January, the Euro began being used in European stock and bond trades and in most business-to-business transactions. To help people become accustomed to the Euro, countries' currencies such as Francs, lire, Deutsche Marks and other currencies will continually be used until January 1, 2002 when the Euro will be introduced in to circulation for consumer use. Until that time, old currencies (legacies) will be fixed with the Euro to prevent any loss of money when converting to the Euro. By June 30, 2002, all legacy currency within the eleven countries will no longer be legal tender and the Euro will be used 100 percent by business's as well as consumers. Before going in to further detail of the Euro and EMU, there are a few facts about "Eurozone" in comparison with other countries and their economic statistics. First of all, the eleven countries of the EMU are about eight percent larger population than the U.S., but their GDP is about 25 percent smaller than the U.S. The countries' economies in the EMU by themselves are considered to be "open," meaning that their external trade is a relatively large share of GDP. But also considered "closed" in a sense because most of their trade is with each other. Excluding trade within the EMU, exports plus imports make up about 25 percent of GDP, compared with less than 20 percent in the U.S. and 18 percent in Japan. Unemployment is higher than the U.S., about 10.5 percent compared to the U.S. at four percent. Government expenditures and receipts are substantially higher relative to the size of the economy than that of the U.S. CREATION OF THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION European integration goes as far back as 1951 with the European Coal and Steel Community. This was a common market in coal, iron, and steel products joining Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands together. After 50 years and four waves, the European Union has continually grown to its current 15 country membership. Following the first six countries, were in 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. In 1981 Greece entered, 1986, Spain and Portugal and in 1995, Austria, Finland and Sweden. The EU is progressing with a fifth enlargement soon aimed towards the countries in Eastern and Southern Europe. With the introduction of the Euro, this completed the final stage of the EMU, which origins go back to March of 1957. On January 1, 1958, the Treaty of Rome went into affect with the same six countries from 1951, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, forming the European Economic Community (EEC), the foundation of today's EMU. Note again that the EU and the EMU are not completely the same. The EMU consists of only 11 of the 15 countries and the EU consists of all 15. The countries involved in the creation of the EEC did not fully envision an actual monetary union until 1971 with the proposal of the Werner Plan. A group of E

Some common words found in the essay are:
Claude Trichet, Japan Euro, Maastricht Treaty, Euro United, Federal Reserve, FUTURE EURO, Criterion Concerning, EMU Eurozone, European Union, International Settlements, single currency, federal reserve, maastricht treaty, monetary union, january 1, central bank, european monetary, executive board, january 1 1999, 1 1999, central banks, european monetary union, amending treaty establishing, national central bank, treaty establishing european,
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