Portugal Euro FDC

Portugal FDC
Name: 10th Anniversary of the Euro
Date of Issue: 28 January 2009

1 January 2009 will mark the 10th anniversary of the creation of the euro, one of the most significant landmarks of the European project and modern history.

In effect, the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union, set out by the Treaty on European Union, started on 1 January 1999 with the introduction of the euro and the conduct of a single monetary policy and exchange rate policy, under the Eurosystem (which is formed by the European Central Bank and the national central banks of euro area Member States, including Banco de Portugal).

On such date, Portugal and a further ten Member States – Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria and Finland – met the conditions for adopting the euro. The euro area currently consists of sixteen countries, following the entry of Greece (1 January 2001), Slovenia (1 January 2007), Cyprus and Malta (1 January 2008) and Slovakia (1 January 2009).

However, the euro only became visible to citizens from 1 January 2002, when euro banknotes and coins entered into circulation.

The euro has come to represent an important step in the long European integration process since the European Economic Community was established in 1957. The single currency has provided a backdrop for the stability and progress of citizens and the economies of participating countries. Around 320 million citizens of the euro area benefit daily from a currency that has also become an international reference.

On celebrating the 10th anniversary of the euro as a symbol of European identity and as a factor of integration and development, this set of stamps also celebrates the joint effort of European Union countries to ensure the peace and prosperity of the European continent.