Euro: Approval of Irrevocable Determination of Conversion Rates

On December 31, 1998, EU Finance Ministers met in Brussels. The meeting was chaired by Rudolf Edlinger, Federal Minister of Finance of Austria.
The main topic of the meeting was the approval of the Regulation irrevocably fixing the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the first 11 member states adopting the single currency (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland). Following a proposal from the Commission and consultation with the European Central Bank, the Regulation was approved unanimously, and its validity began on January 1, 1999, marking the start of the third and final stage towards Economic and Monetary Union.
For the first three years, it was an “invisible” currency used only for accounting purposes and electronic payments. On January 1, 2002, when euro coins and banknotes were put into circulation, the largest currency transition in history began in 12 EU countries (the 11 mentioned above plus Greece).