EU enlargement and the future evolution of European banking

The introduction of the euro on 1 January 2002 in physical form as a single currency for 12 nations making up the European Monetary Union (EMU) represented an unprecedented historic milestone and continuity in the process of European integration that commenced in earnest with the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The advent of the euro as the medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account affects an economy with a gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately $7 trillion and 303 million people who speak 11 languages. The EMU is part of the European Union's nine trillion-dollar economy constituted by 15 nations and 380 million inhabitants.