The Expanding Euro Zone

http://nutmegcollector.blogspot.com/

wrote:

( at http://nutmegcollector.blogspot.com/ )

| European Union members currently chosen not to
| join - Denmark, Sweden and United Kingdom.

Legally, Denmark and the UK are the only member states that had the
right to opt out. The two joined the EC/EU before the Maastricht Treaty,
which they would otherwise have blocked.

Sweden is basically in the same camp as Poland, Latvia or Hungary for
example: The country is "theoretically" obliged to join. But if any EU
member state wants to stay out of the currency union, so what - there
will always be some who have a different currency ...

Denmark is a somewhat strange case, by the way - the country did on one
hand not join Euroland but OTOH the krone is almost tied to the euro,
with a fluctuation band of only 2.25 percent. The government apparently
plans another euro referendum.

| Non European Union States:
| Andorra, Kosovo, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino and Vatican.

Monaco, San Marino and Vatican actually have monetary agreements with
the European Union. The other three above just use the euro without any
formal agreements.

Christian

Thanks for the comments. Maybe UK, Denmark and Sweden will eventially
join the eurozone. Afterall, euro note prefix letters had been
reserved for them.

"Christian Feldhaus" wrote in

| Non European Union States:
| Andorra, Kosovo, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino and Vatican.

Christian

Russia, Ukraine, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Moldova, Faeroes opted out of
Denmark's membership, and Transdinistria(if you consider that a country)

Tommy Hillbilly wrote:

"Christian Feldhaus" wrote in

| Non European Union States:
| Andorra, Kosovo, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino and Vatican.

Christian

Russia, Ukraine, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Moldova, Faeroes opted out of
Denmark's membership, and Transdinistria(if you consider that a country)

Huh? The article (see Tom's website) was about countries/area that use
the euro. None of the countries you listed does that.

Christian

wrote:

Thanks for the comments. Maybe UK, Denmark and Sweden will eventially
join the eurozone. Afterall, euro note prefix letters had been
reserved for them.

The UK has opted out and will stay out of the euro area. Sweden - and
Hungary, Czech Rep. etc. - do not have the option to stay out but may
still do so. And frankly, since the EU will hardly ever consist of "euro
countries only", who cares

The interesting question IMO is Denmark - the Rasmussen government
announced plans to have another referendum later this year or in 2009.
Since the country is de facto in the euro area, people may say, why not
fully join - but they may as well say, in terms of stability (or
volatility, see the euro debate in Iceland) we are "in" anyway ...

Christian