A quarter of a century of the euro: From skepticism to global number two

Dusseldorf. "The introduction of the euro is an urgent necessity. It is in Germany's very own interest." With these words, Chancellor Helmut Kohl addressed the Germans in 1998 in order to dispel widespread skepticism about the planned common currency. The then head of the US Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, had previously predicted: “The euro will come, but it will not last.” Nobel Prize winner in economics Paul Krugman called the euro the “triumph of a symbol over substance.” Both should be wrong.

Today, a quarter of a century after its introduction, the euro is legal tender in 21 European countries and a de facto second currency in many other countries. This makes this common currency the second most important currency in the world today. But there is still an enormous gap with the US dollar: the euro accounts for around a fifth of global currency reserves, while the dollar still accounts for more than half. The US currency also dominates in international bond trading, world trade, raw material financing, international payment transactions and financial markets.