Joint Communiqué of 3 May 1998 by the Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Member States adopting the euro as their single currency, the Commission and the European Monetary Institute on the determination of the irrevocable conversion rates for the euro
Date: 1998-05-03
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Commission, European Monetary Institute
Subjects: EMS exchange-rate mechanism, Economic and Monetary Union, central rate, exchange rate

27.5.98

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

C  160/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COMMISSION

EUROPEAN  MONETARY  INSTITUTE

JOINT  COMMUNIQU^  OF  3  MAY  1998  BY  THE  MINISTERS  AND  CENTRAL  BANK
GOVERNORS  OF  THE  MEMBER  STATES  ADOPTING  THE  EURO  AS  THEIR
SINGLE  CURRENCY,  THE  COMMISSION  AND  THE  EUROPEAN  MONETARY
INSTITUTE  ON  THE  DETERMINATION  OF  THE  IRREVOCABLE  CONVERSION
RATES  FOR  THE  EURO

(98/C  160/01)

In  accordance  with  Article  109l(4)  of  the  Treaty,  the  irrevocable  conversion  rates  for  the  euro
will  be  adopted  by  the  Council,  on  a  proposal  from  the  Commission  and  after  consultation  of
the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB),  on  the  first  day  of  stage  three,  i.e.  on  1  January  1999.

With  a  view  to  guiding  markets  in  the  run(cid:220)up  to  stage  three,  the  Ministers  of  the  Member
States  adopting  the  euro  as  their  single  currency,  the  Governors  of  the  Central  Banks  of  these
Member  States,  the  European  Commission  and  the  European  Monetary  Institute  (EMI)  have
agreed  on  the  method  for  determining  the  irrevocable  conversion  rates  for  the  euro  at  the
starting  date  of  state  three.

The  current  ERM  bilateral  central  rates  of  the  currencies  of  the  Member  States  which,  on  the
first  day  of  stage  three,  will  adopt  the  euro  as  their  single  currency,  will  be  used  in  determining
the  irrevocable  conversion  rates  for  the  euro.  These  rates  are  consistent  with  economic  funda(cid:220)
mentals  and  are  compatible  with  sustainable  convergence  among  the  Member  States  which  will
participate  in  the  euro  area.  The  central  banks  of  the  Member  States  adopting  the  euro  as  their
single  currency  will  ensure  through  appropriate  market  techniques  that  on  31(cid:217)December  1998
the  market  exchange  rates,  recorded  according  to  the  regular  concertation  procedure  used  for
calculating  the  daily  exchange  rates  of  the  official  ecu,  are  equal  to  the  ERM  bilateral  central
rates  as  set  forth  in  the  attached  parity  grid.

The  procedure  agreed  on  by  all  parties  to  this  Joint  Communiqu~  will  ensure  that  the  adoption
of  the  irrevocable  conversion  rates  for  the  euro  will  by  itself,  as  required  by  Article  109l(4)  of
the  Treaty,  not  modify  the  external  value  of  the  ecu,  which  will  be  replaced  on  a  1:1  basis  by
the  euro.  The  attached  annex  provides  detailed  information  on  this  procedure.  The  final
official  ecu  exchange  rates  calculated  accordingly  and  released  on  31(cid:217)December  1998  will  be
proposed  by  the  Commission  for  adoption  by  the  Council  on  the  first  day  of  stage  three,  i.e.  on
irrevocable  conversion  rates  for  the  euro  for  the  participating
1(cid:217)January  1999,  as  the 
currencies.

In  compliance  with  the  legal  framework  for  the  use  of  the  euro,  once  the  irrevocable
conversion  rate  for  the  euro  for  each  participating  currency  has  been  adopted,  it  will  be  the
only  rate  which  will  be  used  for  conversion  either  way  between  the  euro  and  the  national
currency  unit  and  also  for  conversions  between  national  currency  units.

ERM  BILATERAL  CENTRAL  RATES  TO  BE  USED  IN  DETERMINING  THE  IRREVOCABLE
CONVERSION  RATES  FOR  THE  EURO

DEM  100  = BEF/LUF  100  = ESP  100  =

FRF  100  =

IEP  1  =

ITL  1(cid:216)000  = NLG  100  =

ATS  100  =

PTE  100  =

FIM  100  =

GERMANY:
DEM

BELGIUM/LUXEMBOURG:
BEF/LUF

2(cid:216)062,55

SPAIN:
ESP

FRANCE:
FRF

IRELAND:
IEP

ITALY:
ITL

NETHERLANDS:
NLG

AUSTRIA:
ATS

PORTUGAL:
PTE

FINLAND:
FIM

8(cid:216)507,22

412,462

335,386

16,2608

3,94237

40,2676

1,95232

0,473335

12,0063

99(cid:216)000,2

4(cid:216)799,90

1(cid:216)163,72

29(cid:216)518,3

2(cid:216)458,56

112,674

5,46285

1,32445

33,5953

2,79812

1,13812

703,552

34,1108

8,27006

209,774

17,4719

7,10657

624,415

10(cid:216)250,5

496,984

120,492

3(cid:216)056,34

254,560

103,541

9(cid:216)097,53

1(cid:216)456,97

304,001

14,7391

3,57345

90,6420

7,54951

3,07071

269,806

43,2094

2,96571

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