Why should an EU country join the euro? Does it make political and economic sense? What’s the point of having an EU single currency in the first place?

To tackle these and other pressing questions, journalists from EU Member States that have not yet adopted the euro are invited to attend a three-day seminar on 9-11 November, in Brussels, organised by the European Journalism Centre (EJC) in cooperation with European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN).

Participants will meet both European institutions and independent experts and will have the opportunity to attend press conferences after planned meetings of finance ministers from the Euro Area (Eurogroup) and from the EU-27 (ECFIN Council).

Ten years after its establishment, the euro has been successful as a stabilizing force for the European economy. Its very existence in these times of global financial turmoil has helped to protect member countries’ economies from competitive devaluations and capital flight.

The euro is the currency of the 329 million people who live in the 16 euro-area countries. It is also used, either formally as legal tender or for practical purposes, by a whole array of other countries such as close neighbours and former colonies.

It is therefore not surprising that the euro has rapidly become the second most important international currency after the dollar, and in some respects (e.g. the value of cash in circulation) has even overtaken it.

All EU Member States are part of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which can be described as an advanced stage of economic integration based on a single market. It involves close co-ordination of economic and fiscal policies and, for those countries fulfilling certain conditions, a single monetary policy, apart from a single currency - the euro.

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