Real convergence of interest rates to relatively low levels has given a great impetus to economic growth. Another example is that currency devaluation, which had been an important source of market distortion, is eliminated with EMU. Particularly traditional so-called "hard currency countries", such as Austria has been during the last two decades, were suffering from some elements of "beggar thy neighbour policies".
Fortunately, this is a thing of the past. Still, the euro is rather an abstract notion to most of the citizens since it does not yet exist as a tangible transaction currency. The euro project will receive much more support once the common coins and banknotes have been introduced at the start of next year.