|
The Treaty of Maastricht made
provision for the single currency to be introduced in the European
Union in three stages.
The first
stage of economic and monetary union, starting on 1 July 1990,
entailed the liberalisation of capital movements and the beginning
of the convergence process. With the entry into force of the Treaty
on European Union (1 November 1993), the principle of full freedom
of movement of capital was incorporated into the Treaty. (more)
The second stage, covering the period from 1 January 1994 to 31
December 1998, consisted, in particular, of implementing all
secondary legislation on EMU for the Member States and on the
introduction of euro bank notes and coins. Key concepts here are:
excessive deficit procedure,
prohibition
of privileged access,
prohibition
on the central banks granting credit facilities to public
authorities and undertakings,
broad
economic policy guidelines and convergence
criteria.
The third stage, beginning on 1
January 1999, marked the effective start of the economic and
monetary union of the European Union. From this date, the ECU ceased
to be a basket of currencies and became a currency in its own right,
renamed asthe euro, with a quotation and exchange rate corresponding
to supply and demand on the markets. For the first three years, the
currency was used as a 'book currency' on the financial markets in,
for example, electronic commerce and transactions between banks. (more)
The 'final act' of the story on the creation of a common currency in
Europe, which started with Gustav Stresemann’s speech before the
League of Nations in 1929, was achieved on 1 January 2002 when euro
banknotes and coins were introduced in twelve Member States of the
European Union. The euro area now not only forms a currency zone for
16 sovereign states in Europe with more than 370 million
inhabitants, but also constitutes a “reference area" for many parts
in the world, either as legal tender in overseas territories of
European countries or as a reference currency with fixed exchange
relations with other currency zones.(more)
Further information can be found on the websites "the
euro - our currency" and the "euro
archives".
Previous: third attempt
to create EMU |
Homepage
