Record Detail Back
Economy and finance
- Share to:
Indicators from various areas, such as national accounts, government finance, exchange rates and interest rates, consumer prices, and the balance of payments support analysis of the economic situation. These indicators are also used in the design, implementation and monitoring of the European Union’s (EU’s) policies. The EU is active in a wide range of policy areas, but economic policies have traditionally played a dominant role. Starting from a rather narrow focus on introducing common policies for coal and steel, atomic energy and agriculture as well as the crea- tion of a customs union over 50 years ago, Euro- pean economic policies progressively extended their scope to a multitude of domains. Since 1993, the European single market has enhanced the possibilities for people, goods, services and money to move around the EU as freely as within a single country. The start of economic and monetary union (EMU) in 1999 gave economic and market integration further stimulus. The euro has become a symbol for Europe, and the number of countries that have adopted the single currency increased from an original 11 to 17 countries by 2011.