EURO

The Euro is the currency of thirteen European Union countries, namely Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland and Slovenia.

Euro banknotes and coins have been in circulation within these twelve countries since 1 January 2002 and are now a part of daily life for over 300 million Europeans living in the euro area.

When Malta became a member of the European Union (EU) on May 1 last year, it became at the same time a member of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) with the status of a 'Member State with a derogation'. Among other things this implies that Malta is exempt from certain requirements of EMU though it is obliged to adopt the euro as its national currency at a future date.

It is expected that Malta will join the Euro on the 1st of January 2008. Ongoing preparations can be monitored online by either:

a) consulting the official website of the National Euro Changeover Committee (NECC):
http://www.mfin.gov.mt/page.aspx?site=NECC&page=default
b) sending an e-mail to: euro@gov.mt