Euro in Slovakia
Slovakia adopted the euro on 1 January 2009 and became the member state of the euro area. The euro area consists of the European Union countries that have adopted the euro.
The ECOFIN Council decided that the Slovak koruna will be converted into euro at the rate of 30.1260 SKK/EUR on 8 July 2008.
Inspiration for the € symbol itself came from the Greek epsilon (Є) - a reference to the cradle of European civilisation - and the first letter of the word Europe, crossed by two parallel lines to ‘certify' the stability of the euro.
The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) and the Eurosystem (composed of the central banks of the euro area countries). As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all member states, and the operation of the euro area payment systems.
By virtue of some bilateral agreements, the European microstates of Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City mint their own euro coins on behalf of the ECB. Andorra, Montenegro and Kosovo adopted the foreign euro as their legal currency for movement of capital and payments without participation in the ESCB or the right to mint coins. Andorra is also negotiating a monetary agreement similar to that of the microstates above.