(Economic and Monetary Union) The consolidation of European currencies into one monetary unit called the "euro," which phased in on January 1, 1999. Accounting systems that dealt with the currencies of the participating countries had to deal with both native and euro values. On January 1, 2002, euro notes and coins were made available, with national currencies withdrawn by March 1 of that year. Public and private companies spent more than $150 billion modifying their information systems to accommodate the euro. England, Sweden and Denmark have not adopted the euro, but the countries that were initially involved are: