*  *  *  Let me first say that one should never try to understand Europe’s new currency in isolation or as a currency which was merely introduced on 1 January 1999. In fact, the euro is just one, albeit an important, part of the process of creating an economic as well as a monetary union in Europe.
This process began already a decade ago. Similarly, this "Economic and Monetary Union" is itself part of a much broader process of European economic and political integration. Therefore, in order truly to understand the euro one should in fact consider it first in the context of the European integration process that began already five decades ago.