20 years of the euro
Born of the much-maligned Maastricht Treaty, the single currency is the end result of two different schools of European economic thought being fused together with some very fuzzy language
Broadly, the euro has had four main phases. Its beginning and adjustment (1999-2003), then the conduct of monetary policy until the financial crisis (2003-2007), then the global financial crisis and the great recession (2008-2013), and the current phase of ultra-low inflation and quantitative easing (2014-today).
The Maastricht Treaty, signed in 1992, gives the legal framework for the euro, the conditions required to join the euro, and introduced the stability mechanisms and rules designed ...
