The euro (currency symbol: €; ISO code: EUR) is the single currency of the Economic and Monetary Union formed within the European Union; in 2023, it is common to twenty Member States of the European Union which form thus the euro zone. 

In use in its scriptural form on January 1, 1999, it was put into circulation on January 1, 2002 at midnight in its fiduciary form. It succeeds the ECU, the “European unit of account” put into service in 1979. The euro is managed by the European Central Bank (ECB) which has its headquarters in Frankfurt and by the Eurosystem, made up of the central banks of the States of the euro zone.

The euro is the second largest currency in the world in terms of transaction amounts, behind the US dollar and ahead of the Chinese yuan.