Proposal for Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 974/98 on the introduction of the euro
Date: 2000-05-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Economic and Monetary Union, European Monetary System, Greece, euro, exchange rate

C 177 E/98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

27.6.2000

Proposal for Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 974/98 on the introduction of the
euro

(2000/C 177 E/18)

COM(2000) 346 final (cid:151) 2000/0137(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 30 May 2000)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 123(4), third sentence,
and (5) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

(5) For Member States whose currency is replaced by the euro
after the date at which the Community entered the third
stage of Economic and Monetary Union, the definition of
(cid:145)national currency units(cid:146) should refer to the unit of the
Member State’s currency as it was defined immediately
before the introduction of the euro in that Member State,

(6) The provisions on the transitional period apply as from 1

January 2001 in the case of Greece,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the intro-
duction of the euro (1) provides for the substitution of the
euro for the currencies of the Member States which fulfilled
the necessary conditions for the adoption of
the single
currency at the time when the Community entered the
third stage of Economic and Monetary Union; whereas
this Regulation also includes rules which apply to the
these Member States during
national currency units of
the transitional period ending on 31 December 2001,
and rules on banknotes and coins;

(2) Decision of 3 May 1998 in accordance with Article 121(4)
of the Treaty (98/317/EC) stipulated that Greece did not
fulfil
the
the necessary conditions for the adoption of
single currency;

(3) Pursuant to Decision of 20 June 2000 in accordance with
Article 122(2) of the Treaty (. ./. . ./EC) Greece now fulfils
the necessary conditions and the derogation of Greece is
abrogated with effect from 1 January 2001;

(4) The introduction of

the euro in Greece requires

the
extension to Greece of the provisions on the introduction
of the euro which are applicable in the Member States in
which the euro was introduced when the Community
entered the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union;

Article 1

Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 974/98 shall be amended

1.
as follows:

(cid:151) in the first

indent,

the word (cid:145)Greece(cid:146) shall be inserted

between the words (cid:145)Germany(cid:146) and (cid:145)Spain(cid:146),

(cid:151) in the third indent, the words (cid:145)or in accordance with the
fifth paragraph of this article(cid:146) shall be added at the end,

(cid:151) in the fifth indent, the words (cid:145)or, as the case may be, on the
day before the euro is substituted for the currency of a
Member State which adopts the euro at a later date(cid:146) shall
be added at the end.

The first sentence of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No
2.
from 1
974/98 shall be replaced by the following:
January 1999 the currency of
the participating Member
States except Greece shall be the euro. As from 1 January
2001 the currency of Greece shall be the euro.(cid:146)

(cid:145)As

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 2001.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
applicable in all Member States.

(1) OJ L 139, 11.5.1998, pp. 1-5.