Business: Euro introduction

European official start of the Euro currency, the solemn moment that the banks officially started to use the European currency. It was celebrated as if it was a birthday party.

At 13:51 or 13:15 on 31 December 1998 time, the President of the European Commission, Mr. Jacques Santer and his Monetary Affairs Commissioner Mr. Yves Thibault de Silguy, pulled the curtain from the electronic scoreboard to reveal to EU finance ministers the rates.

Roy Gillett (Considerations Jan/1999) gives the Euro as 1 January 1999, 00:00 MET Frankfurt-am-Main, as the birth chart "even though no official trading is possible yet." He continues that the First Trade Chart is 4 January 1999, 7:00 AM, Auckland, New Zealand which is 12 hours before the Frankfurt Exchange opens.

Marion March responds to Gillett's article (Considerations Mar/1999) by quoting an email from Tees Reisma, "The First Euro transaction took place on 1 January 1999 at 00:00:01 AM, Frankfurt, Germany when the vice president of VISA paid for a bottle of champagne in the bar with his card: shown on TV." Marion adds that "according to my information, the birth of the Euro should be cast for Brussels, Belgium, rather than Frankfurt."

Roy Gillett responded, "My information came from Reuters TV, who informed me that all trading prior to 4th January would be unofficial. He would not know until then how much he paid for his bottle of champagne! The official EU-rep of all participating countries, Austria's Minister of Finance, signed the contract that brought in the Euro common currency on 31 December 1998 at 13:15 MET, Brussels, Belgium."

Update 14 March 2015 by ATR: The Euro was not introduced in the afternoon of 31 Dec 1998. There was a meeting in Brussels on that day, which decided on the final fixed exchange rates between the Euro and the member currencies. The Euro was introduced at midnight between 31 Dec 1998 and 1 January 1999. This introduction had long before been decided by member states and EU institutions.