On this day, 27 years ago, May 2, 1998 (April 7, 1998, the euro started to enter the countdown. On May 2, 1998, the heads of state and government of the 15 EU countries held a special meeting in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. After several hours of difficult negotiations, they reached an agreement, confirming that Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland were the first founding countries of the euro to join the European single monetary system, and agreed that the current Director of the European Monetary Agency, Duisenberg, would serve as the first president of the European Central Bank. The decision made at this extraordinary EU summit marks the countdown to the implementation of the European unified monetary system. According to the timetable formulated by the European Union, starting from January 1, 1999, the euro will serve as the "currency" for non-cash transactions of participating countries, that is, it will be circulated through checks, credit cards, stocks and bonds; starting from January 2002, the 11 euro countries will put a total of 70 billion euros in cash into circulation; after July 1, 2002, the respective currencies of the above 11 countries will cease to circulate and be replaced by the euro.