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The economy of the European Union generates a GDP (nominal) of about €14.303 trillion (US$18.451 trillion in 2014) and a GDP (PPP) of about €12.710 trillion (US$16.773 trillion in 2014) according to International Monetary Fund, which makes it the largest or second largest economy in the world respectively if treated as the economy of a single country depending on a source used. The European Union (EU) economy consists of an internal market and the EU is represented as a unified entity in the World Trade Organization (WTO). ==Currency== Beginning in the year 1999 with some EU member states, now 19 out of 28 EU states use the euro as official currency in a currency union. The remaining 9 states continued to use their own currency with the possibility to join the euro later. The euro is also the most widely used currency in the EU. Since 1992 the Maastricht treaty sets out rigid economic and fiscal convergence criteria for the states joining the euro. Starting 1997, the Stability and Growth Pact has been started to ensure continuing economic and fiscal stability and convergence. Denmark and the United Kingdom, not members of the eurozone, have special opt-outs concerning the later joining of the euro. Also, Sweden can effectively opt out by choosing when or whether to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, which is the preliminary step towards joining. The remaining states are committed to join the euro through their Treaties of Accession. Starting with Greece in 2009, five of the 19 eurozone states have been struggling with a sovereign debt crisis, by many called the European debt crisis. All these states started reforms and got bailout packages (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus). As of May 2015, all countries but Greece have recovered from their debt crisis. Other non-eurozone states also experienced a debt crisis and also went through successful bailout programmes, i.e. Hungary, Romania and Latvia (the latter before it joined the eurozone).〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Romania becomes third eastern European EU country to be bailed out )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Economy of the European Union」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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