History of the euro midnight on 1 January 1999, when the national currencies of participating countries (the eurozone) ceased to exist independently in that their exchange rates were locked at fixed rates against each other, effectively making them mere non-decimal subdivisions of the euro. The euro thus became the successor to the European Currency Unit (ECU). The notes and coins for the old currencies, however, continued to be used as legal tender until new notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002 (having been distributed in small amounts in the previous December). Beginning on 1 January 1999, all bonds and other forms of
Euro two percent higher on the year, approximately at the same level as it was before the crisis kicked off in 2007. The formal titles of the currency are "euro" for the major unit and "cent" for the minor (one hundredth) unit and for official use in most eurozone languages; according to the ECB, all languages should use the same spelling for the nominative singular. This may contradict normal rules for word formation in some languages, e.g., those where there is no "eu" diphthong. Bulgaria has negotiated an exception; "euro" in the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet is spelled as eвро ("evro") and