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"B COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2866/98
of 31 December 1998
on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euro
(OJ L 359, 31.12.1998, p. 1)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
"M1 Council Regulation (EC) No 1478/2000 of 19 June 2000 L 167 1 7.7.20001998R2866 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 1
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2866/98
of 31 December 1998
on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the
Member States adopting the euro
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in
particular Article 109l(4), first sentence thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (
1),
(1) Whereas according to Article 109j(4) of the Treaty, the third stage of
Economic and Monetary Union shall start on 1 January 1999; whereas
the Council, meeting in the composition of Heads of State orGovernment, has confirmed on 3 May 1998 that Belgium, Germany,Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria,
Portugal and Finland fulfil the necessary conditions for the adoption of
a single currency on 1 January 1999 (
2);
(2) Whereas according to Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May
1998 on the introduction of the euro (3), the euro shall be the currency of
the Member States which adopt the single currency as from 1 January
1999; whereas the introduction of the euro requires the adoption of the
conversion rates at which the euro will be substituted for the nationalcurrencies and at which rates the euro will be divided into nationalcurrency units; whereas the conversion rates in Article 1 are the
conversion rates referred to in the third indent of Article 1 of Regulation
(EC) No 974/98;
(3) Whereas according to Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June
1997 on certain provisions relating to the introduction of the euro (
4),
every reference to the ECU in a legal instrument shall be replaced by a
reference to the euro at a rate of one euro to one ECU; whereas Article
109l(4), second sentence, of the Treaty, provides that the adoption of theconversion rates shall by itself not modify the external value of theECU; whereas this is ensured by adopting as the conversion rates, the
exchange rates against the ECU of the currencies of the Member States
adopting the euro, as calculated by the Commission on 31 December1998 according to the established procedure for the calculation of thedaily official ECU rates;
(4) Whereas the Ministers of the Member States adopting the euro as their
single currency, the Governors of the Central Banks of these Member
States, the Commission and the European Monetary Institute/the
European Central Bank, have issued two Communiqués on thedetermination and on the adoption of the irrevocable conversion rates
for the euro dated 3 May 1998 (
5) and 26 September 1998, respectively;
(5) Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 stipulates that the conversion
rates shall be adopted as one euro expressed in terms of each of the
national currencies of the Member States adopting the euro; whereas inorder to ensure a high degree of accuracy, these rates will be adoptedwith six significant figures and no inverse rates nor bilateral rates
between the currencies of the Member States adopting the euro will be
defined,!B
(1) OJ C 412, 31. 12. 1998, p. 1.
(2) Council Decision 98/317/EC of 3 May 1998 in accordance with Article 109j(4) of
the Treaty (OJ L 139, 11. 5. 1998, p. 30).
(3) OJ L 139, 11. 5. 1998, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 162, 19. 6. 1997, p. 1.
(5) OJ C 160, 27. 5. 1998, p. 1.1998R2866 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 2
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
The irrevocably fixed conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of
the Member States adopting the euro are:
1 euro = 40,3399 Belgian francs
= 1,95583 German marks
= 340,750 Greek drachma= 166,386 Spanish pesetas
= 6,55957 French francs= 0,787564 Irish pounds= 1936,27 Italian lire= 40,3399 Luxembourg francs= 2,20371 Dutch guilders
= 13,7603 Austrian schillings
= 200,482 Portuguese escudos= 5,94573 Finnish marks
Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1999.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all
Member States.!B
!M1
!B1998R2866 — EN — 01.01.2001 — 001.001 — 3