European Unit of Account European Unit of Account The European Unit of Account (EUA) was a unit of account used in the European Communities from 1975 to 1979, when it was replaced at parity by the European Currency Unit, in turn replaced at parity in 1999 by the euro. Initially it was used for Lomé Convention and European Investment Bank operations before being gradually introduced into other sectors of Community activity. The EUA was a basket of European currencies, originally designed to have the same value in mid-1974 as the IMF special drawing rights basket, both worth US$1.20635; they immediately moved apart in value.
European Currency Unit accept the European Union legislation to that effect. However, for abundant caution, several foreign jurisdictions adopted legislation to ensure a smooth transition. Of particular importance, the U.S. states of Illinois and New York adopted legislation to ensure a large proportion of international financial contracts recognized the euro as the successor of the ECU. Although the acronym ECU is formed from English words, "écu" is also the name of an ancient French coin. That was one reason that a new name was devised for its successor currency, "euro", which was felt not to favour any single language. The currency's symbol, ₠