BBC: When the euro was launched there were plenty of people who thought it would crash and burn.
Ten years on, its role as a global currency is secure, even if it hasn't achieved everything its founders hoped.
Wednesday is the 10th anniversary of the agreement that launched the single currency.
However, residents of the first 12 EU states that adopted the euro didn't begin using euro banknotes and coins until 1 January, 2002.
Things didn't start out so well.
The euro spent its early life hitting record lows against the dollar - but now it is the greenback that's falling.
Tourists and exporters in the eurozone have to cope with the euro at a record high. Many in Europe are now bracing themselves for the effects of the slowdown in America.
Stronger position
But as the European Commission is keen to remind us, for once the eurozone economies are coming into this credit crunch from a position of relative strength.
About 16 million jobs have been created in the eurozone since the birth of the euro, and unemployment has fallen, from 9% in 1999 to 7% in 2007.
In contrast to the UK, most governments also have room to cut taxes to boost growth if they need to: the average budget deficit in the eurozone countries last year fell to record low of 0.6% of GDP. Celebrating 10 Years of the Euro? >>> By Stephanie Flanders, economics editor, BBC news | May 7, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)
