Opinion of the European Central Bank of 13 November 2012 on the spelling of the single currency (CON/2012/87)
Date: 2012-11-13
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Latvia, euro, money, national law, terminology

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 13 November 2012  

on the spelling of the single currency 

(CON/2012/87) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 5 October 2012, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Latvian Ministry of 

Justice  for  an  opinion  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 opinion 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  authorities 
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 No 564 provided that the name of the single currency in Latvian is the 

‘eiro’. On 18 December 2007, the Latvian Government amended Regulation No 564. While the original 

provision  establishing  the name  ‘eiro’  remained 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 shall 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  
2  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
See the ECB’s Convergence Report 2012, p. 239. 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
ECB-PUBLIC 

2. 

General observations 

The ECB welcomes the consulting authority’s intention to address the 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  economic  and  monetary  union  whose  currency  is  the  euro’.  All  language  versions  of  this 

Treaty 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  acknowledges  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 cultural 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  ways  that  deviate  further  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  currency,  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  this  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. 

3  

See the ECB’s Convergence Report 2012, pp. 31-32. 

2 

[signed] 

The Vice-President of the ECB 

Vítor CONSTÂNCIO