EN ECB -PUBLIC 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 13 November 2012  
on the spelling of the single currency  
(CON/20 12/87) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 5 October 2012, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Latvian Ministry of 
Justice  for an o pinion on an amendment (hereinafter the ‘draft amendment’) to Regulation No 564 of 
26 July 2005 on the rendering of the name of the single currency of the European Union in Latvian  
(hereinafter ‘ Regulation No 564’ ). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opini on is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the first indent of Article  2(1) of Council Decision 
98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorit ies 
regarding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft amendment  relates to currency matters. In accordance 
with the first sentence of Article  17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the 
Governing Council has adopted this opinion.  
 
1.  Purpose of the draft amendment  
The Latvian Ministry of Justice states that the main objective of the draft amendment is to correct a 
discrepancy between the name of the single currency in Latvian established  for non- legal acts in 
Regulation No 564 ( ‘eiro’) and the name of the single currency in Latvian as established by Union law 
(‘euro’ ). The ECB has  drawn attention to this discrepancy in its convergence reports2. 
Until December 2007,  Regulation N o 564  provided that the name of the single currency in L atvian is the 
‘eiro’. On 18 December 2007, the Latvian G overnment amended  Regulation No 564. While the original 
provision establishing the name ‘ eiro’ remain ed intact, a new paragraph  3 was added providing that in 
legal acts the name of the single currency  is the ‘ euro’. 
The Latvian Ministry of Justice now proposes to replace the current wording of paragraph 2 of Regulation  
No 564:  ‘2. The name of the single currency of the European Union in Latvian shal l be in the masculine 
gender indeclinable form: “ eiro” ’ with the following : ‘The name of the single currency of the European 
Union in common spelling in the Latvian language shall  be used in accordance with the grammar 
principles of the Latvian language and historical traditions. ’. 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p.  42. 
2  See the ECB’s Convergence Report 2012, p. 239.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
2  
2. General observation s 
The ECB welcomes the consulting authority ’s intention  to address th e above discrepancy  in Latvian law  
regarding the name of the single currency . 
The ECB notes that Article 3(4) of the Treaty on European Union lays down that the ‘Union shall 
establish an eco nomic and monetary union whose currency is the euro’. All language versions  of th is 
Treat y and the TFEU in the Roman alphabet, including Latvian, consistently refer to the single currency  
in the nominative singular case as the  ‘euro’3.  
The ECB also acknow ledges that the need to correct any  discrepancy between Latvian and Union  law 
regarding the name of the single currency is without prejudice to the use of variants of the name of the 
single currency in common usage in Latvia, consistent with Latvia’s cultu ral and linguistic heritage.  The 
spelling of the name of the euro has no effect on the existing rules of the Latvian language.  
 
3. Specific observations  
3.1 The ECB considers that the draft amendment would lay down in Latvian law the possibility of  
writing the name of the single currency differently from its  name as laid down in Union primary 
law. In addition, given the non-specific wording of the draft amendment, the name could be written 
in way s that  deviate fu rther from the name as laid down in Union law . The ECB considers that 
paragraph 3 of Regulation No 564 specifying that in legal acts the single currency must be given 
the name ‘ euro’ is compatible with Union  law. 
3.2 In view of the Union’s exclusive competence to determine the name of the single curr ency,  the 
ECB invites the Latvian authorities to consider repealing Regulation No 564 altogether, as this 
Union competence has been exercised by adopting directly applicable provisions of Union law, making it unnecessary to legislate at national level on t his issue. If this is not feasible, the ECB 
invites the Latvian authorities to repeal paragraph 2 of Regulation No 564 rather than replace it.  
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
  
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 13 November 2012. 
 
[signed]  
 
The Vice -President of the ECB  
Vítor CONSTÂNCIO  
                                                 
3  See the ECB’s Convergence Report 2012, pp. 31 -32.