> Why was the Euro so weak back in 2000? It was launched, without coins or notes, in January 1999. The Euro was, initially, a sort of in-game currency for the European Union. It existed only inside banks - so there were no notes or coins for it. That all came later. So did belief - early on it didn't look like the little Euro was going to make it: so the rate against the Dollar was 0.8252. That means that in October 2000, a Dollar would buy you 1.21 Euros (to reverse exchange rates, do 1/rate). Nowadays the Euro is much stronger: a Dollar would buy you less than 1 Euro.
Even if the Euro initially only existed electronically, it still had fixed exchange rates with the old currencies of the EU zone members. Most importantly with the established and well-trusted Deutsche Mark of Germany.
So any explanation of 'why was the Euro initially weak' also has to explain why the DEM was weak at the time. The explanation given in that paragraph doesn't sound like it's passing that test.
> Why was the Euro so weak back in 2000? It was launched, without coins or notes, in January 1999. The Euro was, initially, a sort of in-game currency for the European Union. It existed only inside banks - so there were no notes or coins for it. That all came later. So did belief - early on it didn't look like the little Euro was going to make it: so the rate against the Dollar was 0.8252. That means that in October 2000, a Dollar would buy you 1.21 Euros (to reverse exchange rates, do 1/rate). Nowadays the Euro is much stronger: a Dollar would buy you less than 1 Euro.
Even if the Euro initially only existed electronically, it still had fixed exchange rates with the old currencies of the EU zone members. Most importantly with the established and well-trusted Deutsche Mark of Germany.
So any explanation of 'why was the Euro initially weak' also has to explain why the DEM was weak at the time. The explanation given in that paragraph doesn't sound like it's passing that test.