The Euro Explained: The History & How Countries Join - TLDR Explains

The Euro has been the official currency of many EU nations for about two decades, so our Patreon audience's request we're going to discuss how countries join the single currency and the history of the Euro.

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[AdriLeemput]

Living in a small country (Belgium), it is really helpful to not have to switch currency every time you drive for 3 hours.
I remember my parents having different wallets for French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, Austrian and Swiss currency.

[welfiblablabla]

I'm no economist and wouldn't even try to understand any of it
BUT as a citizen of Luxembourg I massively enjoy not having to change currency anytime I leave our tiny country

[rajeebsatyal]

*Hello what's the best way to get started with trade cos I've been making my personal research for a while now and i still don't know how to start.*

[joecaruso]

I know how dependent smaller countries in the eurozone are on dependent on trading with the euro and how European economies are interconnected. A fight for individual control over monetary policy is quite confusing. Then again, I won't claim to know enough. As much as I believe a nation's growth and an economic recession are related and how economic downturns are natural, now is the moment to rethink the policies that are to blame especially with the ECB increasing rates and making loan repayments harder for the basic people. In either case, I'm happy I sold the vast majority of my euro holding at a premium. Can't risk the dollar drawdown alongside the euro.

[ChilapaOfTheAmazons]

Every country that has the euro has seen their standards of living improve. Greece was saved by the euro, without the euro they would have entered a far worse economic crisis and hyperinflation like Argentina.

Thanks to the euro and the intervention of the EU and ECB to save Greece, they now have to pay only 1.5% interest on their public debt, while Argentina is forced to pay 40% interest because their currency is much weaker.

Inflation hits hardest the weaker people in society: employees and pensioners, because it destroys the value of salaries, savings and pensions.

The euro put a stop to that in every state that adopted it.

[CarlosKTCosta]

The EURO really made evident the cracks in Portuguese economy and competitiveness. By not being able to compete by lowering the currency value, Portugal had to compete by making better products, different products, something. Basically that was when it became clear how behind and unprepared Portugal was for competing in the global market. I do not blame the EURO for it, I blame bad management and lack of vision

[CrownRider]

The Euro and the EU laws made it possible to start our company in 2001 relatively easy. It would have taken much longer to be profitable for us and the cost s would have been much higher.

[manuelapollo]

I think there are pros and cons in a shared currency. What I know for sure is that i find some critics to euro not particularly strong, in particular when it's said that different economies cannot share the same currency. Well, there is a union made of 50 different economies that share the same currency: the dollar. And apparently it works. Moreover, if that statement is true, then even inside the border of most of the national countries that I know there should be different currencies: England has a different economy than Scotland or Wales, the south of England has a different economy than the north. We can say the same about north and south of Italy, west and east Germany.

[lilyydotdev]

petition to quote prices of patreon plans and e.t.c. on the tldr news eu channel in euros considering it's the *eu channel*

[KeithBarnesLife]

I definitely want more videos about the euro.

[SueLynCheang]

ACTUALLY, I'M NOT AN ECONOMIST, PLEASE TELL ME MORE...

[IamTheHolypumpkin]

I just like the Euro because it is convenient. I don't have to think about exchanging money when I travel.
(And at least it not as stupid as US Dollars where all bills are the same size and colour. So confusing. )

[calebhopkins]

I think national pride gets in the way of Euro adoption. European economies are so interconnected already that an argument for individual control over monetary policy doesn't make a ton of sense. Does a country like Denmark really have the economic power to control their currency's value when it is so reliant on trading with the euro? I would doubt it personally, but don't know enough to say for sure. The UK would be the exception here.

[paisto]

Congratulations on the last section. I think you gave the correct perception on who dislikes the euro and who doesn't. Most negative information comes actually from the United states, whose media consistently try to proclame the end of the euro. But in the end of the day it makes life easier for those who carry it in the pockets. Just check inflation rates in several countries before and after the euro. And it also protects us from our politians individual interests.

[manuelapollo]

I like that Italy, a boot, has the islands of Sicily and Sardinia as shoes🤣

[NAYRUthunder]

The idea of the Euro is great, but having a European monetary policy is useless without a common fiscal policy.
Every country in the world has its own monetary policy (that is, control over its currency) and its own fiscal policy (that is, the ability to decide expenditure and taxation). Every country except the Eurozone, where the monetary policy is controlled by the EU Central Bank, a federal-level institution, while fiscal policies are autonomously formulated by the Member States, which by themselves cannot decide on the currency (e.g. they cannot print money). This has created all sorts of problems during and after the crisis, problems we are still dealing with to this day. Such system makes no sense. The EU should be able to set monetary AND fiscal policy. For any currency system to work, these two must be in tandem.







(Yes, this means the EU should be able to levy taxes on behalf of the states)

[NeverGiveUpExisting]

Aah! We got all EU Countries in Shoes icons! 😭 My day is now complete! Lol
I was waiting to see how some of them would look like. XD This is sooo cuuute I can't.

[philippvelimirovic]

I recomend anyone to just read the Wikipedia Article, it will save you time and leave you better informed.

This Video has some serious factual errors and also seems to suffer from misunderstandings on the end of the producers.

One of the few most glaring ones:
The Euro is not "kind of" the Currency of the EU, IT IS per the Tretaties the official currency of the EU!
Sweden is obliged to join and thus also in violation of the treaties.
That also applies to the czech republic and hungary btw.
The Situation with EU Countries not joining, apart from those with a permanent opt out, is that they effectively fail to notify the EU Comission of having reached sufficient convergence.
Effectively the treaties don't have a sanctioning mechanism for countries that dont do this, so when you dont have compatibility of legislation ( like those countries do) you are not obliged to join because you dont meet the convergence criteria.
Its realy a rather questionable legal argument and one could well imagine the ECJ to rule against these countries at some point in the future.
Realy the main reason no one has done anything about it is Realpolitik: There are bigger fish to fry and no one wants to force the issue for fears of playing into the hand of eurosceptics (which is probably the right interpretation)

[PanglossDr]

When I worked in Brussels in the 80s. 3% of European turnover was wasted on currency exchange.
Much of that money found its way to London. That is why the UK has always been dead set against the Euro.

[erwinhun]

I actually am an economist and there are, as usual, pros and cons and whether or not something is a good idea depends on how you measure those pros and cons against each other. Personally I think the pros outweigh the cons, but one can always find special cases and situations where they do not.