The euro turns 10 (self adhesive stamps).
Every country needs a safe, durable and easy to use means of payment.
As from 1832, Belgium used the frane as its currency.
The response was thè introduction of the European Monetary System (EMS) II ilrflwTIIH jn 197g based on the new European Currency Unit (ECU).
The next step carne in 1990 with the establishment of the Economie and Monetary Union (EMÙ). The ultimate goal was to introduce a single currency in the EU member states. Economie efforts were demanded of ali candidates for accession to the System.
In December 1991 the EU member states signed the Treaty of Maastricht, thus accepting the idea of a single European currency, which was given the name "euro" in December 1995. On 1 January 1999 each acceding member state pegged its national currency to the euro, creating a de facto currency union. In Belgium, one euro was worth 40.3399 francs.
The Belgians were asked to hand in their coins between 15 October and 15 November 2001. The first euro mini-kits worth 500 francs went on sale on 15 December 2001.1 January 2002 was an important day for the great European dream, as the euro notes and coins became legai tender. On 28 February 2002 a dozen EU member states voted to adopt the euro as the only legai means of payment. Since that date the European Union has strengthened its economie and politicai position compared with superpowers like the United States and Japan. Daily lite has changed radically since the introduction of the euro. A whole generation had to learn how to count and pay in euros and cents. And you can now pop over the border to Amsterdam, Paris or Cologne without having to buy forex. That's ali thanks to the euro.
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19 01 2009
02, The German-speaking Communi
The history of the German-speaking part of Belgium has certainly been a very eventful one.
Code: 0902*
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In the Great War the inhabitants of Eupen-Malmedy fought on the side of the German Reich. The Treaty of Versailles (1919-1920) awarded the districts Eupen-Malmédy and Neutral-Moresnet to Belgium. Twenty years later, Eupen-Malmédy and a small number of border areas on the Belgian
Philately has been considered as an "auxiliary science of history" because it is based on the general principles of other sciences, which in turn contribute to enrich it. It acquires knowledge of the sciences, of the arts, of languages and opens an immense road of social relations through all countries. This science broadens broad horizons of culture, discovers artistic temperaments and offers the interest of the new and the unknown, while performing a positive therapeutic wor.
