To form a more perfect economic union and to establish a single market financially, economically and politically, 11 European countries founded a common currency and a European Central Bank, and created a new monetary unit, the euro, on 1st January, 1999. On that date, the old national currencies officially became subunits of the euro, much as the nickel and quarter are subunits of the dollar. signed the Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, which outlined a basic structure for the alliance. However, of those 15 countries, only 11 initially joined the European...