| Summary: | Legal issues of euro introduction in the Czech Republic On 1st March 2002 the euro has been established as an official currency of 12 European Union countries. As of today the number of EU countries using it has grown to 16 out of 27. When entering the EU the Czech Republic has also pledged to introduce the euro, as is clearly stated in article 4 of the European Union Act. However, the Czech Republic enjoys a temporary exemption from introducing the euro in accordance with article 139 of the European Union treaty, which will last until all the economic criteria are fulfilled and the country can thus enter the monetary union. Introducing a common European currency is not a matter of the last few years. Indeed, the first steps towards it have been considered as early as 1957. Back then the idea was to link the exchange rates of national currencies to an artificially created unit called ECU, which in turn has been based on a range of currencies of member states. The plan for euro introduction was, however, accepted as late as 1989. It has been later embedded in the Maastricht Treaty, where member states, with the exception of United Kingdom and Denmark, pledged to drop their national currencies. The Maastricht Treaty, however, is not the main source of rules for euro introduction in the newly entering...
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