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Members of the EMU:
Economic and Monetary Union

EMU, the European Monetary Union, is an alliance of the 20 European states that belong to the European Union and have introduced a common currency, the euro. In the proper sense, the union refers to itself as the "European Economic and Monetary Union," or EEMU.

The euro countries cover an area of 2.82 million km² in Europe and have a population of around 346.97 million. In terms of area, this corresponds to about 1.9 percent of the world's land mass and 4.4 percent of the world's population. With a money supply of around 12 trillion euros, the currency is one of the few leading currencies in the world. Only the Chinese yuan and the US dollar have a higher money supply.
Map of member countries: EMU - Economic and Monetary Union
CountryCommencementPopulationAreaGDP
Austria19998.96 M84,000 km²480.37 bn US$
Belgium199911.59 M31,000 km²594.10 bn US$
Croatia20233.90 M57,000 km²68.96 bn US$
Cyprus20081.24 M9,250 km²28.41 bn US$
Estonia20111.33 M45,000 km²37.19 bn US$
Finland19995.54 M338,000 km²297.30 bn US$
France199967.75 M549,000 km²2.958 tn US$
Germany199983.20 M358,000 km²4.260 tn US$
Greece200110.64 M132,000 km²214.87 bn US$
Ireland19995.03 M70,000 km²504.18 bn US$
Italy199959.11 M301,000 km²2.108 tn US$
Latvia20141.88 M64,000 km²39.85 bn US$
Lithuania20152.80 M65,000 km²66.45 bn US$
Luxembourg19990.64 M2,590 km²85.51 bn US$
Malta20080.52 M320 km²17.36 bn US$
Netherlands199917.53 M42,000 km²1.013 tn US$
Portugal199910.33 M92,000 km²253.66 bn US$
Slovakia20095.45 M49,000 km²116.53 bn US$
Slovenia20072.11 M21,000 km²61.75 bn US$
Spain199947.42 M506,000 km²1.427 tn US$


Euro zone

All 20 EMU countries have adopted the euro as their currency. Outside the EU, other countries have the euro as their official currency. In Europem these are Andorra, Kosovo, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino and Vatican City. In addition, some dependent territories of EU states have adopted the euro, but some are neither EU nor EMU members. These are, for example, the Dutch and French overseas territories in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

Common economic objectives

The common goal of the union is the further development and stabilisation of the European internal market. One of the union's primary objectives is to maintain the price level and currency stability of the euro. All states of the European Union participate in the economic union, but not in the monetary union. In other words, Bulgaria, Denmark, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Hungary also participate. These countries are exempted from EMU, but do not yet have to complete the third stage of the introduction of the euro.

Entry criteria

The basic prerequisite for admission to EMU is membership in the European Union. Even financially strong and stable countries outside the EU cannot become Alliance members. In addition, strict conditions are imposed on the economy of a candidate country. For example, the inflation rate must not be lower than 1.5 percent of the most price stable EMU country. The country must not have more than 60 percent debt and new debt must be below 3 percent. It should be noted that these are admission criteria. If a member state no longer meets these criteria after admission, it does not automatically drop out. The question as to whether, for example, Greece could be excluded from EMU by force because it no longer fulfilled the admission criteria has so far remained unanswered.



Dependent territories

Some of the above-mentioned member states have other external territories dependent on them. These are not independent states, but they do have some economic and political autonomy. The EMU treaties apply to them at least in part. These countries are not listed as official member states.

CountryRegionDependency
ÅlandNorthern EuropeTerritory of Finland
ArubaCaribbeanTerritory of the Netherlands Kingdom
Caribbean NetherlandsCaribbeanTerritory of the Netherlands
French Antarctic LandsAntarcticaTerritory of France
French GuianaSouth AmericaTerritory of France
French PolynesiaPolynesiaTerritory of France
GuadeloupeCaribbeanTerritory of France
MartiniqueCaribbeanTerritory of France
MayotteEastern AfricaTerritory of France
New CaledoniaMelanesiaTerritory of France
ReunionEastern AfricaTerritory of France
Saint BarthelemyCaribbeanTerritory of France
Saint MartinCaribbeanAutonomous territory of the Netherlands Kingdom
Saint Pierre and MiquelonNorth AmericaTerritory of France
St. MartinCaribbeanTerritory of France
Wallis and FutunaPolynesiaTerritory of France