Economy of Austria As a member of the economic and monetary union of the European Union (EMU), Austria's economy is closely integrated with other EU member countries, especially with Germany. On 1 January 1999, Austria introduced the new Euro currency for accounting purposes. In January 2002, Euro notes and coins were introduced, replacing those of the Austrian schilling. In Austria, Euros appear as 1999, however all Austrian euro coins introduced in 2002 have this year on it; unlike other countries of the Eurozone where mint year is minted in the coin. Eight different designs, one per face value, were selected for the Austrian
History of the euro Commission based on the market rates on 31 December 1998, so that one ECU would equal one euro. These rates were set by Council Regulation 2866/98 (EC), of 31 December 1998. 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. Due to differences in national conventions for rounding and significant digits, all conversion between the national currencies had to be carried out using the process of triangulation via the euro. The currency was introduced in non-physical form (traveller's cheques, electronic transfers, banking, etc.) at