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I remember visiting family friends in Yugoslavia just before it broke down, and getting a new bag of money from the ATM every morning because the rate was so volatile and the currency was basically worthless.

Which ties into the question about the German mark. It was a strong currency and the second largest reserve currency after the USD. It had some use outside Germany too, it was accepted for payment in some countries that had more volatile local currencies, and Kosovo and Montenegro straight up used it as their official currency until they switched to the Euro. Bosnia’s currency is named after it, uses its unit names, and was pegged to it (now to the Euro).

One reason for the Euro, and one reason why there was resistance to it in Germany, was the idea that a common currency could keep a unified Germany’s economy in check. Especially France wanted this, and Germany agreed to make an eventual monetary union part of the package deal for German reunification.

But the general idea of the Euro is that it reduces barriers to trade. And as opposed to the previous paragraph, this part actually worked.

Some EU countries negotiated exceptions to the Euro a long time ago (like Denmark), but in general there are requirements a country needs to fulfill before joining the monetary union. Most countries that aren’t using the Euro now are legitimately not meeting these requirements. Sweden is the main one actively not trying to meet them but that’s an exception. Recently there have been more voices that this was a mistake, as research has shown that the Euro significantly increased trade and foreign direct investment, and in comparison we can see that Sweden just did not get those benefits.

Parallel pricing is kind of normal. People need to get used to the new numbers. We had this too when the Euro was new.

I’m preparing to start a company, and as a single person who needs to quit a job to do this, having to wait for three-ish months starting when I start filing before I can actually do business is extremely annoying. It doesn’t have to be 2 days and 100% online as far as I’m concerned, but several months at full operating expenses just waiting until the last registration is finally confirmed is just not how we get more startups to start in Europe.

But you can already have a megacorporation on the EU level, the Societas Europaea (SE). Like Airbus.

This new thing sounds more like they want to make it easier for everybody else.