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Nowadays,theeuroisasymbolofEuropeandthenumberofstateswhichhave
adoptedithasbeenincreasing.TheEurozoneofficiallyincludes16countries:
Austria,Belgium,Cyprus,Finland,France,Greece,Germany,Italy,Ireland,Lu-
xemburg,Malta,theNetherlands,Portugal,Slovakia,SloveniaandSpain.Some
otherEuropeancountries,whicharenotEUmembers,like:Andorra,Kosovo,
Montenegro,Monaco,SanMarinoandtheVaticanCity,officiallyusetheEuro
astheircurrencies.Asaresult,theEurozonetodaycomprises22countriesusing
theeuroastheircurrency,withothernewEUmembercountriesworkingto-
wardsbecomingpartoftheEurozone.
TherearealsoopponentsoftheintroductionoftheeuroastheEUsinglecurren-
cy,whichisreflectedinthefactthatsomecountriesimportantfortheperform-
anceoftheEUremainoutsidetheEurozone.Theseare:theUnitedKingdom,
Denmark,andSweden.Theopponentsofthemonetaryunionclaimthatitmeans
thelossofnationalpolicytools,whichmayhaveadestabilisingimpactonthe
Europeaneconomy,thelackof‘real,convergenceofparticipatingeconomies,
whichmayincreasetheproblemofasymmetricshocks.Theyalsoarguethatthe
ECB,sattemptsatstabilisationbytheuseofasingleinstrument,acommoninte-
restrate,arelikelytoproveinsufficientbecausethecommonmonetarypolicy
affectsEUmembersdifferently[Hollensen,2011,pp.219-220].Takinginto
considerationcurrentproblemsfacedbytheMediterraneaneconomies(Greece,
Spain,Portugal,orevenItaly)andtheirimpactontheEuroexchangeratesinthe
globalforeign-exchangemarket,aswellashowcostlyandlimitedthemeasures
whichtheEurozonecountriescanusetostabilisetheEuro,spositionare,these
doubtsmustnotbeignored.
TosumupthediscussionoftheintegrationprocessesinEurope,itcanbesaid
thattheunprecedentedcommitmentofindependentEuropeancountrieshasled
tothecreationoftheintegrationgroupingwhichisuniqueonaglobalscalein
termsofthenumberofitsmembersandthedegreeofintegrationandwhich,at
thesametime,constitutes:
'freetradeareaenablesfreetradeamongmembers,
'customsunionensurescommonexternalcustomspolicy,
'commonmarketprovidesconditionsforfactormobility(i.e.freeflowof
goods,services,capitalandlabour),
'economicunionpromotesmonetary,fiscal,andsocialpolicyharmonization.
ThelaststageoftheintegrationprocessesinEuropecouldbethecreationof
apoliticalunionbetweenthememberstates.Forthetimebeing,theEUisnot
politicallyintegratedalthoughitsetsupinstitutionswhichenableundertaking
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