The Introduction of the Euro Banknotes: Some Legal Issues

This paper addresses two legal issues regarding the euro banknotes, in circulation since zero hours 1 January 2002, the currency of some 300 million Europeans. These are the physical representation of the single currency introduced 1 January 1999. Following the introduction of such banknotes, monetary debts may be discharged in a territory that extends from Faro in Portugal to Rovaniemi in Finland, from the Aran Islands in the Atlantic to the island of Crete in the Aegean. No doubt a major and a historical event for Europe.