Banking » Timeline Of European Debt Crisis
Click through the timeline below to see how Europe's debt crisis began and evolved.
1999
The euro is introduced with 11 founding countries
Earlier in the decade, in 1992, the European Economic Community was officially formed with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. The euro was introduced and adopted by 11 countries in 1999. Those countries were Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland. Greece joined in 2001.
National currencies began to be phased out in 2002, and the euro became the official currency of the region. Since 2007, five other countries have joined the euro area, including Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and Estonia.