What's New in the EU: Cyprus Adopts Euro

By ARI SYRQUIN

Excerpts:

Our neighbor Cyprus, together with Malta, adopted the euro on Tuesday, bringing to 15 out of the 27 EU countries and a population of 320 million out of the EU's total of 495 million that share the same currency. 2008 will mark the second enlargement of the euro area since 2002 - Slovenia having already adopted the single currency on January 1, 2007...

Why euro? The benefits of the euro are diverse and are felt on different scales, from individuals and businesses to national economies and the European Community at large,...

On the other end, a national currency is one of the things that define a character of a nation. A common currency weakens the independence of each member state, which is part of the euro.

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