The 1950s and 60s saw strong economic expansion and dramatic improvements in the quality of life in Europe. To keep the trend going, Western European nations (sans East Germany) met in Rome in 1957 to establish a “common market” by abolishing most internal tariffs while putting up only a single overriding external one. This was not quite the European Union — the movement of goods and persons between the borders was still heavily limited — but the treaty paved the way, noting in its preamble the determination “to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe.”

On May 11, in 1998, that union of the peoples of Europe reached its zenith, with the arrival of the first printed Euro currency. It would become the official legal tender fo 300 million Eurozone citizens.

“E-Day” itself, the date of the switching from old currency to the Euro, came in 2001, when 7.4 billion notes and 38.2 billion coins were issued to more than 300 million consumers. As promised, it made price transparency a lot easier, enabling customers to compare costs of products and services across borders. Not everyone in the Eurozone was pleased, however, with Germany noting a sharp rise in price after the adoption of the Euro and calling it the “teuro”, from “teuer”, their word for expensive.