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103-445: On April 8, 2008, Sellaband raised EU€ 3.5 million ( US$ 5 million) in their Series A round led by Prime Technology Ventures. In early 2009, Pim Betist left Sellaband to set up Africa Unsigned, using Sellaband technology as a base and supported by the Dutch government. In January 2010, Sellaband filed for bankruptcy. It relaunched days later, after an investor stepped forward. The office

206-583: A "Securities Market Programme" (SMP) which involved the discretionary purchase of sovereign bonds in secondary markets. Extraordinarily, the decision was taken by the Governing Council during a teleconference call only three days after the ECB's usual meeting of 6 May (when Trichet still denied the possibility of purchasing sovereign bonds). The ECB justified this decision by the necessity to "address severe tensions in financial markets." The decision also coincided with

309-584: A balance sheet total of around 7 trillion. The ECB Governing Council makes monetary policy for the Eurozone and the European Union , administers the foreign exchange reserves of EU member states, engages in foreign exchange operations, and defines the intermediate monetary objectives and key interest rate of the EU. The ECB Executive Board enforces the policies and decisions of the Governing Council, and may direct

412-549: A budget deficit of less than 3% of their GDP, a debt ratio of less than 60% of GDP (both of which were ultimately widely flouted after introduction), low inflation, and interest rates close to the EU average. In the Maastricht Treaty, the United Kingdom and Denmark were granted exemptions per their request from moving to the stage of monetary union which resulted in the introduction of the euro (see also United Kingdom and

515-517: A change of communication style, in particular in her use of social media to promote gender equality, and by opening dialogue with civil society stakeholders. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated an unprecedented crisis, profoundly impacting global public health, economies, and societal structures on an unparalleled scale. The COVID-19 crisis stands in contrast to the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis as it represents an exogenous shock to

618-453: A contagion of the Greek crisis towards other Eurozone countries. The assumption—largely justified—was that speculative activity would decrease over time and the value of the assets increase. Although SMP purchases did inject liquidity into financial markets, all of these injections were "sterilized" through weekly liquidity absorption. So the operation was net neutral in liquidity terms (though this

721-510: A deadline to do so and can delay the process by deliberately not complying with the convergence criteria (such as by not meeting the convergence criteria to join ERM II). Bulgaria and Romania are actively working to adopt the euro, while the remaining states do not have a migration plan in progress. The euro is divided into 100 cents (also referred to as euro cents , especially when distinguishing them from other currencies, and referred to as such on

824-547: A foreign trading currency in Cuba since 1998, Syria since 2006, and Venezuela since 2018. In 2009, Zimbabwe abandoned its local currency and introduced major global convertible currencies instead, including the euro and the United States dollar. The direct usage of the euro outside of the official framework of the EU affects nearly 3 million people. Outside the eurozone, two EU member states have currencies that are pegged to

927-462: A level otherwise none of us is willing to accept,[...].", as economists feared that the strong economies would come out of the crisis stronger while weak economies would deteriorate because of the crisis. The PEPP is thus a tool used by the ECB to purchase both private and public securities according to the specific needs of EU-countries caused by the COVID-19-crisis. The temporal flexibility from

1030-473: A number of special territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally, over 200 million people worldwide use currencies pegged to the euro . The euro is the second-largest reserve currency as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar . As of December 2019, with more than €1.3 trillion in circulation, the euro has one of

1133-521: A press conference a set of policy measures to support the European economy in the rising wake of the pandemic, saying that "all the flexibilities that are embedded in the framework of the asset purchase programme [...]" but at the same time she stated that the ECB "[...] is not here to close spreads." This left markets disappointed and let to a particular widening yield spreads in Spain, Italy and Greece. However,

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1236-492: A self-fulfilling panic on financial markets: the more Greek bonds yields rose, the more likely a default became possible, the more bond yields increased in turn. This panic was also aggravated because of the reluctance of the ECB to react and intervene on sovereign bond markets for two reasons. First, because the ECB's legal framework normally forbids the purchase of sovereign bonds in the primary market (Article 123. TFEU), An over-interpretation of this limitation, inhibited

1339-470: A sovereign bond below that threshold, many banks would suddenly become illiquid because they would lose access to ECB refinancing operations. According to former member of the governing council of the ECB Athanasios Orphanides , this change in the ECB's collateral framework "planted the seed" of the euro crisis. Faced with those regulatory constraints, the ECB led by Jean-Claude Trichet in 2010

1442-565: A substantial part of the ECB profits would never be refunded to Greece. The ECB played a controversial role in the " Troika " by rejecting most forms of debt restructuring of public and bank debts, and pressing governments to adopt bailout programmes and structural reforms through secret letters to Italian, Spanish, Greek and Irish governments. It has further been accused of interfering in the Greek referendum of July 2015 by constraining liquidity to Greek commercial banks. In November 2010, reflecting

1545-583: Is a major donor to the EFSF. To be included in the eurozone, countries had to fulfil certain convergence criteria , but the meaningfulness of such criteria was diminished by the fact it was not enforced with the same level of strictness among countries. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2011, "[I]f the [euro area] is treated as a single entity, its [economic and fiscal] position looks no worse and in some respects, rather better than that of

1648-524: Is also the sole currency in three overseas territories of France that are not themselves part of the EU, namely Saint Barthélemy , Saint Pierre and Miquelon , and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands , as well as in the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia . The euro has been adopted unilaterally as the sole currency of Montenegro and Kosovo. It has also been used as

1751-600: Is an asset purchase programme initiated by the ECB to counter the detrimental effects to the Euro Area economy caused by the COVID-19 crisis. To counter the COVID-19 crisis the ECB has established the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP), in which the ECB is able to purchase securities from the private and public sector in a flexible manner, with the purpose to prevent sovereign debt spreads to reach

1854-465: Is discouraged by the commission, as is the practice of certain shops of refusing to accept high-value euro notes. Commemorative coins with €2 face value have been issued with changes to the design of the national side of the coin. These include both commonly issued coins, such as the €2 commemorative coin for the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, and nationally issued coins, such as

1957-628: Is prohibited by the EU Treaty. The Financial Times Deutschland referred to this episode as "the end of the ECB as we know it", referring to its hitherto perceived "hawkish" stance on inflation and its historical Deutsche Bundesbank influence. As of 18 June 2012, the ECB in total had spent €212.1bn (equal to 2.2% of the Eurozone GDP) for bond purchases covering outright debt, as part of the Securities Markets Programme. Controversially,

2060-530: Is the eurozone's riskiest issuer. Non-financial commercial paper with a remaining maturity of at least 28 days was also eligible for purchase under the PEPP. The maturity criteria for public sector ranges form 70 days up to 30 years and 364 days. As the PEPP can deviate from the capital key strategy, there is also no hard limit on the 33% of a single security per issuer or 33% of a member state's total outstanding security. On 12 March 2020, Christine Lagarde announced in

2163-514: The Greek government-debt crisis , Greek debt is given a waiver under the PEPP so that it could be purchased by the ECB under this programme. This waiver was given based on several considerations from the ECB: there was a need to alleviate the pressures stemming from the pandemic on the Greek financial markets; Greece was already and would be closely monitored by giving the waiver; and Greece regained market access. This proved to be controversial, as Greece

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2266-648: The International Monetary Fund in July 2019 and formally took over the ECB's presidency on 1 November 2019. Lagarde immediately signalled a change of style in the ECB's leadership. She embarked the ECB on a strategic review of the ECB's monetary policy strategy, an exercise the ECB had not done for 17 years. As part of this exercise, Lagarde committed the ECB to look into how monetary policy could contribute to address climate change , and promised that "no stone would be left unturned." The ECB president also adopted

2369-530: The Treaty of Lisbon became effective and the bank gained the official status of an EU institution . When the ECB was created, it covered a Eurozone of eleven members. Since then, Greece joined in January 2001, Slovenia in January 2007, Cyprus and Malta in January 2008, Slovakia in January 2009, Estonia in January 2011, Latvia in January 2014, Lithuania in January 2015 and Croatia in January 2023. The current President of

2472-591: The dobra of São Tomé and Príncipe was officially linked with the euro. Additionally, the Moroccan dirham is tied to a basket of currencies, including the euro and the US dollar, with the euro given the highest weighting. These countries generally had previously implemented a currency peg to one of the major European currencies (e.g. the French franc , Deutsche Mark or Portuguese escudo ), and when these currencies were replaced by

2575-501: The " eurozone ", some 347 million people in total as of 2023 . According to bilateral agreements with the EU , the euro has also been designated as the sole and official currency in a further four European microstates awarded minting rights (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City). All but one (Denmark) current, and any potential future EU members, are obliged to adopt the euro when economic conditions permit. The euro

2678-514: The 27 member states of the European Union . This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone . The euro is divided into 100 euro cents . The currency is also used officially by the institutions of the European Union , by four European microstates that are not EU members, the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia , as well as unilaterally by Montenegro and Kosovo . Outside Europe,

2781-604: The APP. The flexibility to deviate from the capital key is key for the PEPP: because of the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 it was needed to prevent tightening financial conditions. They prevent yield spreads between the bonds of different member states, caused by the flight-to-safety of investors. The flexibility in asset purchases allows for fluctuations in the distribution of purchases across asset classes and among jurisdictions to prevent market fragmentation. Following this strategy,

2884-534: The ECB is Christine Lagarde . Seated in Frankfurt, Germany, the bank formerly occupied the Eurotower prior to the construction of its new seat. The ECB is directly governed by European Union law . Its capital stock, worth €11 billion, is owned by all 27 central banks of the EU member states as shareholders . The initial capital allocation key was determined in 1998 on the basis of the states' population and GDP, but

2987-611: The ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet sent two secret letters to the Irish finance Minister which essentially informed the Irish government of the possible suspension of ELA's credit lines, unless the government requested a financial assistance programme to the Eurogroup under the condition of further reforms and fiscal consolidation. In addition, the ECB insisted that no debt restructuring (or bail-in ) should be applied to

3090-446: The ECB announced an extension of those programmes within a full-fledge " quantitative easing " programme which also included sovereign bonds, to the tune of 60 billion euros per month up until at least September 2016. The programme was started on 9 March 2015. On 8 June 2016, the ECB added corporate bonds to its asset purchases portfolio with the launch of the corporate sector purchase programme (CSPP). Under this programme, it conducted

3193-613: The ECB came into existence, the French government wanted Jean-Claude Trichet , former head of the French central bank , to be the ECB's first president. The French argued that since the ECB was to be located in Germany, its president should be French. This was opposed by the German, Dutch and Belgian governments who saw Duisenberg as a guarantor of a strong euro. Tensions were abated by a gentleman's agreement in which Duisenberg would stand down before

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3296-528: The ECB from implementing quantitative easing like the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England did as soon as 2008, which played an important role in stabilizing markets. Secondly, a decision by the ECB made in 2005 introduced a minimum credit rating (BBB-) for all Eurozone sovereign bonds to be eligible as collateral to the ECB's open market operations. This meant that if a private rating agencies were to downgrade

3399-491: The ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy . The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of euro banknotes and coins in all member states, and the operation of the eurozone payment systems. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria , although not all participating states have done so. Denmark has negotiated exemptions, while Sweden (which joined

3502-455: The ECB made substantial profits out of SMP, which were largely redistributed to Eurozone countries. In 2013, the Eurogroup decided to refund those profits to Greece, however, the payments were suspended from 2014 until 2017 over the conflict between Yanis Varoufakis and ministers of the Eurogroup. In 2018, profits refunds were reinstalled by the Eurogroup. However, several NGOs complained that

3605-469: The ECB raised interest rates for the first time since 2008 from 1% to 1.25%, with a further increase to 1.50% in July 2011. However, in 2012–2013 the ECB sharply lowered interest rates to encourage economic growth, reaching the historically low 0.25% in November 2013. Soon after the rates were cut to 0.15%, then on 4 September 2014 the central bank reduced the rates by two-thirds from 0.15% to 0.05%. Recently,

3708-559: The ECB to instigate targeted long term refinancing operations (TLTROs), first in September and later in December 2014. These complementary programs imposed conditionality on the LTROs. The TLTROs provided low cost financing to participating banks, under the condition that they reached certain targets in terms of lending to firms and households. The participating banks were thus more incited to lend to

3811-581: The ECB's banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs, thereby incurring matching liabilities vis-à-vis the ECB. These liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The other 92% of euro banknotes are issued by the NCBs in proportion to their respective shares of the ECB capital key, calculated using national share of European Union (EU) population and national share of EU GDP, equally weighted. Member states are authorised to print or to commission bank note printing. As of November 2022 , these are

3914-535: The ECB. This change in leadership also marks the start of a new era under which the ECB will become more and more interventionist and eventually ended the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis . Draghi's presidency started with the impressive launch of a new round of 1% interest loans with a term of three years (36 months) – the Long-term Refinancing operations (LTRO) . Under this programme, 523 Banks tapped as much as €489.2 bn (US$ 640 bn). Observers were surprised by

4017-419: The EU in 1995, after the Maastricht Treaty was signed) turned down the euro in a 2003 non-binding referendum , and has circumvented the obligation to adopt the euro by not meeting the monetary and budgetary requirements. All nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. The Maastricht Treaty was amended by the 2001 Treaty of Nice , which closed the gaps and loopholes in

4120-543: The EU leaders decision of 10 May to establish the European Financial Stabilisation mechanism, which would serve as a crisis fighting fund to safeguard the euro area from future sovereign debt crisis. Although at first limited to the debt of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the bulk of the ECB's bond buying eventually consisted of Spanish and Italian debt. These purchases were intended to dampen international speculation against stressed countries, and thus avoid

4223-457: The European Union , the Latin alphabet version of euro is used (as opposed to the less common Greek or Cyrillic) and Arabic numerals (other text is used on national sides in national languages, but other text on the common side is avoided). For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, the map only showed the 15 member states of the union as of 2002. Beginning in 2007 or 2008 (depending on

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4326-472: The Eurozone's financial institutions. Further, these operations were devoid of monitoring from the ECB regarding the use made of these liquidities and it appeared that banks had significantly used these funds to pursue carry-trade strategies, purchasing sovereign bonds with higher rates and corresponding maturity to generate profits, instead of increasing private lending. These critics and deficiencies brought

4429-461: The Governing Council announced firstly to provide immediate liquidity through conducting additional LTROs; secondly, to provide more favorable terms on the TLTRO III operations outstanding in the period between June 2020 and June 2021; and thirdly, to announce an additional package of net asset purchases of €120 billion by the end of 2020 under the already existing APP. A day later, on 13 March 2020,

4532-466: The Maastricht and Rome Treaties. The 20 participating members are EU Outermost Regions : Overseas Territories : Special Autonomous Territories : Microstates with a monetary agreement: British Overseas Territory : Unilateral adopters: The following EU member states committed themselves in their respective Treaty of Accession to adopt the euro. However they do not have

4635-453: The PEPP distributed the money among countries in need. The APP follows the capital key strategy, from which no deviations are possible. This makes the APP not able to counter the crisis effectively. Margrethe Vestager , European Commissioner for Competition argued "We will need to distribute in order to recover together. These increasing asymmetries will otherwise fragment the single market to

4738-579: The Portuguese escudos , which ceased to have monetary value after 31 December 2002, although banknotes remained exchangeable until 2022. A special euro currency sign (€) was designed after a public survey had narrowed ten of the original thirty proposals down to two. The President of the European Commission at the time ( Jacques Santer ) and the European Commissioner with responsibility for

4841-478: The US or the UK" and the budget deficit for the euro area as a whole is much lower and the euro area's government debt/GDP ratio of 86% in 2010 was about the same level as that of the United States. "Moreover", they write, "private-sector indebtedness across the euro area as a whole is markedly lower than in the highly leveraged Anglo-Saxon economies". The authors conclude that the crisis "is as much political as economic" and

4944-484: The United States were relatively strong creditors – gained attention in summer 2012 even as Germany received a debt-rating warning of its own. The euro is the sole currency of 20 EU member states : Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. These countries constitute

5047-518: The adherence by the benefitting country to an adjustment programme to the ESM. The program was adopted with near unanimity, the Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann being the sole member of the ECB's Governing Council to vote against it. Even if OMT was never actually implemented until today, it made the "Whatever it takes" pledge credible and significantly contributed to stabilizing financial markets and ending

5150-469: The capital key has been readjusted since. Shares in the ECB are not transferable and cannot be used as collateral. The European Central Bank is the de facto successor of the European Monetary Institute (EMI). The EMI was established at the start of the second stage of the EU's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) to handle the transitional issues of states adopting the euro and prepare for

5253-457: The capital key meant that the ECB could especially prevent the rise of Italian and Spanish yield spreads. Assets meeting the eligibility criteria of the APP were also eligible under the PEPP. However, the PEPP complemented the APP eligibility framework given the specificity of the PEPP-context of crisis requiring a more tailored response. Among the distinctions is that for the first time since

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5356-503: The capital key strategy followed by the APP. Second, the PEPP-envelope does not need to be used in full. The PEPP is established as a separate purchase programme from and in addition to the APP with the sole purpose to respond to the economic and financial consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. Following Philip R. Lane , chief economist of the ECB, the PEPP plays a dual role in the COVID-19 crisis: (i) ensuring price stability and at

5459-464: The coin to commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics issued by Greece. These coins are legal tender throughout the eurozone. Collector coins with various other denominations have been issued as well, but these are not intended for general circulation, and they are legal tender only in the member state that issued them. A number of institutions are authorised to mint euro coins: The design for the euro banknotes has common designs on both sides. The design

5562-469: The common side of all cent coins). In Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s , notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are used, with many local variations such as centime in France. All circulating coins have a common side showing the denomination or value, and a map in the background. Due to the linguistic plurality in

5665-487: The country that issued the coin. Euro coins from any member state may be freely used in any nation that has adopted the euro. The coins are issued in denominations of €2 , €1 , 50c , 20c , 10c , 5c , 2c , and 1c . To avoid the use of the two smallest coins, some cash transactions are rounded to the nearest five cents in the Netherlands and Ireland (by voluntary agreement) and in Finland and Italy (by law). This practice

5768-449: The country), the old map was replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the EU . The 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, however, keep their old design, showing a geographical map of Europe with the EU member states as of 2002, raised somewhat above the rest of the map. All common sides were designed by Luc Luycx . The coins also have a national side showing an image specifically chosen by

5871-475: The creation of the ECB and European System of Central Banks (ESCB). The EMI itself took over from the earlier European Monetary Cooperation Fund (EMCF). The ECB formally replaced the EMI on 1 June 1998 by virtue of the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Treaty of Maastricht), however it did not exercise its full powers until the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999, signalling the third stage of EMU. The bank

5974-413: The day-to-day operating currency of its original members, and by March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies. Between December 1999 and December 2002, the euro traded below the US dollar, but has since traded near parity with or above the US dollar, peaking at US$ 1.60 on 18 July 2008 and since then returning near to its original issue rate. On 13 July 2022, the two currencies hit parity for

6077-449: The end of his mandate, to be replaced by Trichet. Trichet replaced Duisenberg as president in November 2003. Until 2007, the ECB had very successfully managed to maintain inflation close but below 2%. The European Central Bank underwent through a deep internal transformation as it faced the global financial crisis and the Eurozone debt crisis . The so-called European debt crisis began after Greece's new elected government uncovered

6180-489: The euro ( Yves-Thibault de Silguy ) then chose the winning design. Regarding the symbol, the European Commission stated on behalf of the European Union : The symbol € is based on the Greek letter epsilon (Є), with the first letter in the word "Europe" and with 2 parallel lines signifying stability. The European Commission also specified a euro logo with exact proportions. Placement of the currency sign relative to

6283-543: The euro ). The name "euro" was officially adopted in Madrid on 16 December 1995. Belgian Esperantist Germain Pirlot , a former teacher of French and history, is credited with naming the new currency by sending a letter to then President of the European Commission , Jacques Santer , suggesting the name "euro" on 4 August 1995. Due to differences in national conventions for rounding and significant digits, all conversion between

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6386-682: The euro , which is a precondition to joining the eurozone. The Danish krone and Bulgarian lev are pegged due to their participation in the ERM ;II . Additionally, a total of 21 countries and territories that do not belong to the EU have currencies that are directly pegged to the euro including 14 countries in mainland Africa ( CFA franc ), two African island countries ( Comorian franc and Cape Verdean escudo ), three French Pacific territories ( CFP franc ) and two Balkan countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark ) and North Macedonia ( Macedonian denar ). On 1 January 2010,

6489-449: The euro their currencies became pegged to the euro. Pegging a country's currency to a major currency is regarded as a safety measure, especially for currencies of areas with weak economies, as the euro is seen as a stable currency, prevents runaway inflation, and encourages foreign investment due to its stability. In total, as of 2013 , 182 million people in Africa use a currency pegged to

6592-561: The euro, 27 million people outside the eurozone in Europe, and another 545,000 people on Pacific islands. European Central Bank The European Central Bank ( ECB ) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union . It is one of the world's most important central banks with

6695-421: The eurozone are also treated as domestic transactions; however paper-based payment orders, like cheques, have not been standardised so these are still domestic-based. The ECB has also set up a clearing system , TARGET , for large euro transactions. The euro was established by the provisions in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty . To participate in the currency, member states are meant to meet strict criteria , such as

6798-507: The fear that after the COVID-19 crisis was over, the stronger economies would emerge even stronger, while the weak economies would get even weaker. Thanks to the more stringent banking regulations implemented after the Global Financial Crisis, a financial crisis was avoided as banks could cope better with the crisis and complementary measures were taken by the EU and national governments. The Pandemic Asset Purchase Programme (PEPP)

6901-413: The first budget on Sellaband that was not used for recording new but for promoting of already released music. Upon closure of the site, there were over 700 artists registered on Sellaband raising funds. The following table shows the most notable artists that reached their funding goal on SellaBand: Euro The euro ( symbol : € ; currency code : EUR ) is the official currency of 20 of

7004-520: The first three months of 2012. Facing renewed fears about sovereigns in the eurozone continued Mario Draghi made a decisive speech in London, by declaring that the ECB "...is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the Euro. And believe me, it will be enough." In light of slow political progress on solving the eurozone crisis, Draghi's statement has been seen as a key turning point in the eurozone crisis, as it

7107-486: The first time in nearly two decades due in part to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . Then, in September 2022, the US dollar again had a face value higher than the Euro, at around US dollar 0.95 per euro. The euro is managed and administered by the European Central Bank (ECB, Frankfurt am Main ) and the Eurosystem , composed of the central banks of the eurozone countries. As an independent central bank,

7210-437: The highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world. The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid . The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$ 1.1743 at the time). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it

7313-520: The huge increase in borrowing, including the cover the cost of having guaranteed the liabilities of banks, the cost of borrowing in the private financial markets had become prohibitive for the Irish government. Although it had deferred the cash cost of recapitalising the failing Anglo Irish Bank by nationalising it and issuing it with a "promissory note" (an IOU), the Government also faced a large deficit on its non-banking activities, and it therefore turned to

7416-548: The initial designs by Robert Kalina were of specific bridges, including the Rialto and the Pont de Neuilly , and were subsequently rendered more generic; the final designs still bear very close similarities to their specific prototypes; thus they are not truly generic. The monuments looked similar enough to different national monuments to please everyone. The Europa series, or second series, consists of six denominations and no longer includes

7519-667: The interest rates were further reduced reaching 0.00%, the lowest rates on record. In a report adopted on 13 March 2014, the European Parliament criticized the "potential conflict of interest between the current role of the ECB in the Troika as 'technical advisor' and its position as a creditor of the four Member States, as well as its mandate under the Treaty". The report was led by Austrian right-wing MEP Othmar Karas and French Socialist MEP Liem Hoang Ngoc . On 1 November 2011, Mario Draghi replaced Jean-Claude Trichet as President of

7622-518: The national central banks when doing so. The ECB has the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes . Member states can issue euro coins , but the volume must be approved by the ECB beforehand. The bank also operates the TARGET2 payments system. The ECB was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in May 1999 with the purpose of guaranteeing and maintaining price stability . On 1 December 2009,

7725-630: The national currencies ceased to be legal tender varied from member state to member state. The earliest date was in Germany, where the mark officially ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 2001, though the exchange period lasted for two months more. Even after the old currencies ceased to be legal tender, they continued to be accepted by national central banks for periods ranging from several years to indefinitely (the latter for Austria, Germany, Ireland, Estonia and Latvia in banknotes and coins, and for Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Slovakia in banknotes only). The earliest coins to become non-convertible were

7828-554: The national currencies had to be carried out using the process of triangulation via the euro. The definitive values of one euro in terms of the exchange rates at which the currency entered the euro are shown in the table. The rates were determined by the Council of the European Union , based on a recommendation from the European Commission based on the market rates on 31 December 1998. They were set so that one European Currency Unit (ECU) would equal one euro. The European Currency Unit

7931-585: The nationalized banks' bondholders, a measure which could have saved Ireland 8 billion euros. During 2012, the ECB pressed for an early end to the ELA, and this situation was resolved with the liquidation of the successor institution IBRC in February 2013. The promissory note was exchanged for much longer term marketable floating rate notes which were disposed of by the Central Bank over the following decade. In April 2011,

8034-494: The net purchase of corporate bonds until January 2019 to reach about €177 billion. While the programme was halted for 11 months in January 2019, the ECB restarted net purchases in November 2019. As of 2021, the size of the ECB's quantitative easing programme had reached 2947 billion euros. The long term refinancing operations (LTRO) are regular open market operations providing financing to credit institutions for periods up to four years. They aim at favoring lending conditions to

8137-688: The numeric amount varies from state to state, but for texts in English published by EU institutions, the symbol (or the ISO -standard "EUR") should precede the amount. Following the U.S. financial crisis in 2008, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed in 2009 among investors concerning some European states, with the situation becoming particularly tense in early 2010 . Greece was most acutely affected, but fellow Eurozone members Cyprus , Ireland , Italy , Portugal , and Spain were also significantly affected. All these countries used EU funds except Italy, which

8240-499: The official sector for a loan to bridge the shortfall until its finances were credibly back on a sustainable footing. Meanwhile, Anglo used the promissory note as collateral for its emergency loan (ELA) from the Central Bank. This enabled Anglo was able to repay its depositors and bondholders. It became clear later that the ECB played a key role in making sure the Irish government did not let Anglo default on its debts, to avoid financial instability risks. On 15 October and 6 November 2010,

8343-403: The printers: Capital within the EU may be transferred in any amount from one state to another. All intra-Union transfers in euro are treated as domestic transactions and bear the corresponding domestic transfer costs. This includes all member states of the EU, even those outside the eurozone providing the transactions are carried out in euro. Credit/debit card charging and ATM withdrawals within

8446-436: The private sector and more generally stimulating bank lending to the real economy, thereby fostering growth. In December 2011 and January 2012, in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, the ECB implemented two LTROs, injecting over €1000 billion of liquidity in the Eurozone financial system. They were later criticized for their inability to revive growth and to help truly revive the real economy, despite having stabilized

8549-502: The public; a design competition will also be held. Since 1 January 2002, the national central banks (NCBs) and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the total value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem. In practice,

8652-529: The real economy, stemming from measures implemented to mitigate the public health emergency, distinct from the internal financial origins of the preceding crisis that transposed repercussions onto the real economy. Following the measures implemented by all governments to counter the spread of COVID-19 across Europe, investors fled to safety, which caused the risk of fire sales in asset markets, illiquidity spirals , credit spikes and discontinuities associated with market freezes. The flight-to-safety also encouraged

8755-492: The real economy. A third wave of TLTRO's was announced on 7 March 2019, namely the TLTRO III. Under TLTRO III, the interest rate was set at -0.5% below the deposit facility rate (DFR), under condition that banks reached a specific lending performance threshold. The TLTRO III programme was successful to stimulate credit growth. In July 2019, EU leaders nominated Christine Lagarde to replace Mario Draghi as ECB President. Lagarde resigned from her position as managing director of

8858-469: The real level indebtedness and budget deficit and warned EU institutions of the imminent danger of a Greek sovereign default . Foreseeing a possible sovereign default in the eurozone, the general public, international and European institutions, and the financial community reassessed the economic situation and creditworthiness of some Eurozone member states. Consequently, sovereign bonds yields of several Eurozone countries started to rise sharply. This provoked

8961-455: The result of the fact that the euro area lacks the support of "institutional paraphernalia (and mutual bonds of solidarity) of a state". The crisis continued with S&P downgrading the credit rating of nine euro-area countries, including France, then downgrading the entire European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) fund. A historical parallel – to 1931 when Germany was burdened with debt, unemployment and austerity while France and

9064-524: The same levels as during the European debt crisis . It is a quantitative easing unconventional monetary policy, based on the principles of the Asset Purchases Program (APP) which is a similar programme established by the ECB in mid-2014. Asset purchase programmes are intended to bring down risk premia or term premia. However, the PEPP is not entirely the same as the APP, as it can deviate from

9167-422: The same time (ii) stabilizing the market using the flexibility of the programme to prevent market fragmentation. National central banks are the main purchasers of the bonds under the principle of risk sharing: private bonds fall completely under the risk of national central banks, while only 20% of public bonds are subject to risk sharing. These purchases under the PEPP eventually follow the capital key used in

9270-496: The sovereign debt crisis was almost solved by 2014, the ECB started to face a repeated decline in the Eurozone inflation rate, indicating that the economy was going towards a deflation. Responding to this threat, the ECB announced on 4 September 2014 the launch of two bond buying purchases programmes: the Covered Bond Purchasing Programme (CBPP3) and Asset-Backed Securities Programme (ABSPP). On 22 January 2015,

9373-462: The sovereign debt crisis. According to various sources, the OMT programme and "whatever it takes" speeches were made possible because EU leaders previously agreed to build the banking union . In November 2014, the bank moved into its new premises , while the Eurotower building was dedicated to hosting the newly established supervisory activities of the ECB under European Banking Supervision . Although

9476-464: The successor to the European Currency Unit (ECU). The notes and coins for the old currencies, however, continued to be used as legal tender until new euro notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002. The changeover period during which the former currencies' notes and coins were exchanged for those of the euro lasted about two months, until 28 February 2002. The official date on which

9579-467: The volume of loans made when it was implemented. By far biggest amount of €325bn was tapped by banks in Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Although those LTROs loans did not directly benefit EU governments, it effectively allowed banks to do a carry trade , by lending off the LTROs loans to governments with an interest margin. The operation also facilitated the rollover of €200bn of maturing bank debts in

9682-474: The world, distance continues to affect the flow of funding and information. Sellaband conducted three official concerts in Europe . 86 artists reached their fundraising goal. In December 2009 Cubworld was the first artist, closing his second budget. Less than two weeks after bankruptcy , Aryn Michelle was the first artist, closing her budget under the new SellaBand-management. In October 2010 Epyllion closed

9785-433: The €500 with issuance discontinued as of 27 April 2019. However, both the first and the second series of euro banknotes, including the €500, remain legal tender throughout the euro area. In December 2021, the ECB announced its plans to redesign euro banknotes by 2024. A theme advisory group, made up of one member from each euro area country, was selected to submit theme proposals to the ECB. The proposals will be voted on by

9888-560: Was already two years old. While the conversion rates for the initial eleven currencies were determined only hours before the euro was introduced, the conversion rate for the Greek drachma was fixed several months beforehand. The currency was introduced in non-physical form ( traveller's cheques , electronic transfers, banking, etc.) at midnight on 1 January 1999, when the national currencies of participating countries (the eurozone) ceased to exist independently. Their exchange rates were locked at fixed rates against each other. The euro thus became

9991-449: Was an accounting unit used by the EU, based on the currencies of the member states; it was not a currency in its own right. They could not be set earlier, because the ECU depended on the closing exchange rate of the non-euro currencies (principally pound sterling ) that day. The procedure used to fix the conversion rate between the Greek drachma and the euro was different since the euro by then

10094-505: Was created by the Austrian designer Robert Kalina . Notes are issued in €500 , €200 , €100 , €50 , €20 , €10 , and €5 . Each banknote has its own colour and is dedicated to an artistic period of European architecture. The front of the note features windows or gateways while the back has bridges, symbolising links between states in the union and with the future. While the designs are supposed to be devoid of any identifiable characteristics,

10197-495: Was immediately welcomed by European leaders, and led to a steady decline in bond yields for eurozone countries, in particular Spain, Italy and France. Following up on Draghi's speech, on 6 September 2012 the ECB announced the Outright Monetary Transactions programme (OMT). Unlike the previous SMP programme, OMT has no ex-ante time or size limit. However, the activation of the purchases remains conditioned to

10300-423: Was of little practical importance since normal monetary policy operations were ensuring unlimited supplies of liquidity at the main policy interest rate). In September 2011, ECB's Board member Jürgen Stark , resigned in protest against the "Securities Market Programme" which involved the purchase of sovereign bonds from Southern member states, a move that he considered as equivalent to monetary financing , which

10403-736: Was relocated to Munich , Germany. On August 28, 2015, the Sellaband GmbH filed for bankruptcy, too. This was rejected because of lack of mass by the District Court Charlottenburg on January 12, 2016. For three years, Sellaband supported the sharing of revenue, a form of equity crowdfunding. Research from the Journal of Economics & Management Strategy examined investment data on the Sellaband platform during this time period. The data shows that, while investments can come from funders around

10506-412: Was reluctant to intervene to calm down financial markets. Up until 6 May 2010, Trichet formally denied at several press conferences the possibility of the ECB to embark into sovereign bonds purchases, even though Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy faced waves of credit rating downgrades and increasing interest rate spreads. In a remarkable u-turn, the ECB announced on 10 May 2010, the launch of

10609-506: Was the final institution needed for EMU, as outlined by the EMU reports of Pierre Werner and President Jacques Delors . It was established on 1 June 1998 The first President of the Bank was Wim Duisenberg , the former president of the Dutch central bank and the European Monetary Institute . While Duisenberg had been the head of the EMI (taking over from Alexandre Lamfalussy of Belgium) just before

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