Euro states; it was not a currency in its own right. They could not be set earlier, because the ECU depended on the closing exchange rate of the non-euro currencies (principally the pound sterling) that day. The procedure used to fix the conversion rate between the Greek drachma and the euro was different, since the euro by then was already two years old. While the conversion rates for the initial eleven currencies were determined only hours before the euro was introduced, the conversion rate for the Greek drachma was fixed several months beforehand. The currency was introduced in non-physical form (traveller's
History of the euro the banks in June. Indeed, the euro came to be seen as a safe haven, as countries outside it such as Iceland fared worse than those with the euro. Iceland subsequently applied to the EU to get the benefit of using a larger currency with the support of the ECB. However, with the risk of a default in Greece and other members in late 2009–10, eurozone leaders agreed to agree provisions for bailing out member states who could not raise funds (triggered for Greece in April 2010). This was a u-turn on the EU treaties which rule out any bail