The euro - the EU single currency

Latest news about the European Union's single currency.

Single Supervisory Mechanism — 02 November 2015, 11:53 CET

The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) is a new system of banking supervision for Europe. It comprises the ECB and the national supervisory authorities of the participating countries. Its main aims are to: ensure the safety and soundness of the European banking system. increase financial integration and stability.

EU Regulatory Framework for Financial Services: call for evidence — 30 September 2015, 17:40 CET

The Commission is inviting all interested parties to provide feedback and empirical evidence on the benefits, unintended effects, consistency and coherence of the financial legislation adopted in response to the financial crisis.

Action Plan on building a Capital Markets Union — 30 September 2015, 16:11 CET

The European Commission launched the Capital Markets Union Action Plan on 30 September to help build a true single market for capital across the 28 EU Member States.

Five Presidents' Report - plans to strengthen Economic and Monetary Union as of 1 July 2015 — 22 June 2015, 18:14 CET

The EU Institutions' five Presidents - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, together with the President of the Euro Summit, Donald Tusk, the President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, and the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz - revealed on 22 June ambitious plans on how to deepen the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) as of 1 July 2015 and how to complete it by latest 2025.

Capital requirements for banks' exposures to CCPs - transitional period extended — 04 June 2015, 13:56 CET

The European Commission has today adopted an implementing act that will extend the transitional period for capital requirements for EU banking groups’ exposures to central counter-parties (CCPs) under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR).

Implementing Act on Equivalence under Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) — 12 December 2014, 17:42 CET

The European Commission adopted on 12 December its first 'equivalence' decision for the purposes of credit risk weighting under Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 ('Capital Requirements Regulation'). It establishes a list of third countries whose supervisory and regulatory arrangements the EU considers equivalent.

Lithuania and the euro — 01 December 2014, 23:14 CET

Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004 and is currently preparing to adopt the euro.

Fifteenth report on practical preparations for the euro — 21 November 2014, 18:11 CET

It is only a few weeks to go until Lithuanians start using euros to pay for everyday transactions in their country. On 1 January 2015, Lithuania will become the 19th member of the euro area, which will then encompass all three Baltic States. On 21 November, the Commission adopted its fifteenth report on the practical preparations for the changeover, assessing the progress made up until the end of September 2014.

Rules on contributions of banks to resolution funds — 21 October 2014, 17:21 CET

The European Commission has adopted a delegated act and a draft proposal for a Council implementing act to calculate the contributions of banks to the national resolution funds and to the Single Resolution Fund respectively.

Solvency II Delegated Act — 10 October 2014, 18:46 CET

The European Commission has adopted delegated acts under the Solvency II Directive and the Capital Requirements Regulation which will help promote high quality securitisation, ensure that banks have sufficient liquid assets in testing circumstances and introduce international comparability to leverage ratios.

Liquidity Coverage Requirement Delegated Act — 10 October 2014, 18:38 CET

The European Commission has adopted delegated acts under the Solvency II Directive and the Capital Requirements Regulation which will help promote high quality securitisation, ensure that banks have sufficient liquid assets in testing circumstances and introduce international comparability to leverage ratios. Today's package is part of the ongoing calibration of the regulatory framework to ensure that it enables the financial sector to effectively support the real economy, without jeopardising financial stability. It is also part of the overall objective of the European Commission to boost jobs, growth and investment. As President-elect Juncker announced in his Political Guidelines of 15 July, he intends to mobilise up to € 300 billion in additional public and private investment in the real economy over the next three years by proposing an ambitious Jobs, Growth and Investment Package during the first three months of the mandate of the next European Commission.

European Investment Bank — 21 September 2014, 12:57 CET

The European Investment Bank is owned by the 28 EU countries. It borrows money on the capital markets and lends it at a low interest rate to projects that improve infrastructure, energy supply or environmental standards both inside the EU and in neighbouring or developing countries.

2014 Convergence Report and Lithuania — 04 June 2014, 13:39 CET

The European Commission released on 4 June its 2014 Convergence Report, which assesses eight EU Member States' readiness to join the single currency. These countries have made uneven progress on the road to euro adoption, but Lithuania stands out from this group as it now fulfils the convergence criteria.

Convergence Report 2014 — 04 June 2014, 13:33 CET

Convergence Reports examine whether Member States satisfy the conditions for adopting the single currency. Convergence reports are issued by the European Commission and the European Central Bank every two years, or more often if a country intending to join the euro requests it. These reports form the basis for the decision on whether a Member State may join the euro area. The 2014 Convergence Report, released on 4 June 2014, is a regular biennial report and examines progress with convergence in eight Member States with a derogation - Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. It contains the Report from the Commission and the accompanying Staff Working Document with a more detailed analysis of the fulfilment of the criteria by all countries assessed. The report concludes that Lithuania fulfils all conditions for adopting the euro.

European Central Bank — 15 May 2014, 15:47 CET

The ECB is the central bank for Europe's single currency, the euro. The ECB’s main task is to maintain the euro's purchasing power and thus price stability in the euro area. The euro area comprises the 18 European Union countries that have introduced the euro since 1999.

Protection of euro against counterfeiting — 06 May 2014, 18:28 CET

EU Finance Ministers backed measures on 6 May that will reinforce the protection of the euro and other currencies through criminal law measures. These will include tougher sanctions for criminals and improved tools for cross-border investigation. The directive was backed by the European Parliament on 16 April and is expected to enter into force in June 2014.

Legislation against euro-counterfeiting — 06 May 2014, 17:46 CET

To protect the euro in the eurozone and beyond, EU laws aim to ensure proper coordination of anti-counterfeiting measures between national authorities and adequate penalties for counterfeiters under national criminal law.

EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive — 15 April 2014, 16:17 CET

Three measures to ensure that banks shoulder the risks of failure rather than relying on taxpayers to bail them out were approved by European Parliament on 14 April 2014. Two deal with restructuring and winding down troubled banks, and the third ensures that banks, not taxpayers, guarantee deposits under EUR 100,000 in the event of a run on a bank. These measures complement the single bank supervision system, already in place, and take the EU far down the road towards banking union.

Single Resolution Mechanism: a major step towards completing the banking union — 20 March 2014, 23:18 CET

The European Parliament and the Council reached on 20 March 2-14 a provisional agreement on the proposed Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) for the Banking Union.

Banking Union: proposal for a Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) — 20 March 2014, 22:57 CET

The European Parliament and the Council reached on 20 March 2014 a provisional agreement on the proposed Single Resolution Mechanism for the Banking Union. The Commission proposed a Single Resolution Mechanism for the Banking Union. The Single Resolution Mechanism complements the Single Supervisory Mechanism which was proposed by the Commission in September 2012. It is set to centralise key competences and resources for managing the failure of any bank in the Euro Area and in other Member States participating in the Banking Union.

Euro: the international monetary system — 20 March 2014, 13:31 CET

International organisations provide meeting points for the major economies to discuss common challenges and their solutions. As a result of the significant role of the euro in international financial markets, the institutions of the European Monetary Union (EMU) and the euro area are playing an increasingly important role in these discussions.

The Euro and Economic and Monetary Union — 20 March 2014, 12:59 CET

All EU Member States form part of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which can be described as an advanced stage of economic integration based on a single market. It involves close co-ordination of economic and fiscal policies and, for those countries fulfilling certain conditions, a single monetary policy and a single currency – the euro.

Regulatory Technical Standards to implement the single banking rule book (capital requirements - CRD IV package) — 13 March 2014, 14:49 CET

The European Commission has adopted a package of Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) needed to implement important provisions of the Capital Requirements Regulation and Directive (CRR/CRD). The nine RTS define the ways in which competent authorities and market participants must, inter alia, handle disclosures linked to securitisation instruments, measure potential losses from derivative positions and counterparty failure, as well as specifying the types of instruments that can be used for paying bonuses.

New standards to increase transparency over bankers' pay — 04 March 2014, 18:23 CET

The European Commission adopted on 4 March Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on criteria to identify categories of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on an institution's risk profile (so-called ‘material risk takers’). These standards identify risk takers in banks and investment firms. This matters because the risk takers are the people who have to comply with EU rules on variable remuneration (including bonuses). These standards supplement the requirements of the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV) which entered into force on 17 July 2013 (see MEMO/13/690) and which strengthened the rules regarding the relationship between the variable (or bonus) component of total remuneration and the fixed component (or salary). For performance from 1 January 2014 onwards, the variable component shall not exceed 100% of the fixed component of the total remuneration of material risk takers. Under certain conditions, shareholders can increase this maximum ratio to 200%.

The European Banking Federation — 24 February 2014, 16:18 CET

In its 50 years of existence, the EBF has established itself as a prominent interlocutor for the European institutions when laying out their legislative initiatives. Its aim is to ensure that the experience and the views of banks are taken into consideration in the shaping of relevant policies.