A group of countries that have adopted the euro as a common currency and thus form a monetary union. Initially composed of 11 countries in 1999, it has since had several incorporations. As of 2014, 18 countries are part of the Eurozone: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, and Portugal. It does not include Denmark or Sweden, among others, which, despite belonging to the European Union, maintain their own currencies; the same happened with the UK until 2017.
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