Euro
Britain held back by isolation from euro
LETTER - Letter published in the Financial Times, 18 November by Simon Buckby, Campaign Director, Britain in Europe. He says Britain's label of the 'reluctant European' has cost it dear and membership of the euro will be the first step in repairing the…
Domingo Solans on the euro as a driving force
SPEECH - Eugenio Domingo Solans of the European Central Bank said five years is a very short period of time in the normal life of a central bank. He compared the ECB to the Banco de San Carlos, the forerunner of the Bank of Spain created in 1782…
Swedes to hold euro referendum
SWEDEN - Sweden gets the go ahead for a euro referendum from the government but as we reported last week deputy governor of the Swedish Central Bank, Eva Srejber, thinks 2006 is a realistic timetable for Sweden to enter EMU. Swedish trade unionists…
German coins make their mark in the eurozone
GERMANY - Though recent surveys suggest many Germans want their old marks back, it looks like German minted euro coins are poised to flood across borders. Because a third of all euro coins are produced with German national images on the reverse some…
Sterling coins may contain more nickel than euros
UK - Britain in Europe (BiE), a lobby group who campaign for UK entry to the euro, have come up with the perfect riposte to euro sceptics who complain that the euro coins contain high levels of nickel which can cause skin irritation. A Europhile lobby…
ECB Monthly Bulletin, November 2002
REPORT - The European Central Bank published its November 2002 Monthly Bulletin on 14 November. The bulletin contains three articles. The first focuses on the issue of the accountability of the ECB. The second addresses the importance of transparency in…
Economists' expectation of UK euro entry falls
UK - Financial markets indicate expectations of Britain joining the euro are receding as a result of the lack of any movement in the opinion polls, according to economists at HSBC.
Bank of England is model for 'new' ECB
FRANCE - The path towards Britain's possible entry into the euro will be made much easier by a radical French plan for the European Central Bank to be reformed in the image of the Bank of England.
Padoa-Schioppa on the euro and the role of ERM II
SPEECH - In the speech 'Trajectories towards the euro and the role of ERM II' made on 4 November, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB said ERM II should be seen as a meaningful framework within which to achieve further real and nominal convergence. In…
Euro rises above $1 mark in trading
GERMANY - The euro rose above a dollar Tuesday and hit its highest level against the U.S. currency in more than three months amid fears that the U.S. economic recovery may be faltering.
The ECB and Euro-Area Enlargement
RESEARCH - IMF Working Paper by Helge Berger, October 2002. The likely enlargement of euro-area membership will radically change the environment under which monetary policy will be made in the euro area. This paper looks at the consequences of such an…
Swedes could reject euro, says union body
SWEDEN - The head of Sweden's powerful blue collar labour organisation has warned that Swedes could reject membership of the euro unless the government takes special measures to protect the country's cherished welfare model.
The euro goes East
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa reports the results of a survey by the ECB on the private holdings and use of the euro outside the euro area itself.
IMF report on the Policies of the Euro Area
REPORT - International Monetary Fund Staff Report on the Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies of the Euro Area. The report includes sections on movements towards greater central bank transparency, predictability of central bank interest rate decisions,…
UK Minister admits damage of not being in euro
UK - Staying out of the euro has hit foreign investment in Britain, Patricia Hewitt the trade and industry secretary admitted yesterday as she vowed that the government would move "speedily and decisively" to a referendum if the five economic tests were…
Euro may boost Hungary growth report shows
HUNGARY - Joining the euro could boost economic growth in Hungary by between 0.6 to 0.9 percentage points annually for 20 years, according to a report published yesterday by the National Bank of Hungary, the central bank.
Don't use stability pact as scapegoat, says Issing
GERMANY - The chief economist of the European Central Bank launched a staunch defence of the euro area fiscal stability and growth pact on Monday, accusing politicians of using it as a "scapegoat" for their own failures.
Why Britain should join the euro
REPORT - Joining the euro will deliver rising prosperity for Britain - but failing to do so soon will put our hard-won economic success at risk, a group of Britain's leading economists argue in a report published 15 October by pro-European campaign group…
Financial structures in the euro area
REPORT - The European Central Bank (ECB) released a report on financial structures in the euro area on 25 October. The report describes the financial structure of the euro area as a whole and of the individual euro area countries, recent developments in…
UK industry shows sharp rise in support for euro
UK - Enthusiasm for the euro has risen sharply among Britain's manufacturers in the past 18 months, judging by a survey released on Monday.
National Bank of Hungary paper on the euro
RESEARCH - National Bank of Hungary Occasional Papers - 'Adopting the euro in Hungary: expected costs, benefits and timing', edited by Attila Csajbok and Agnes Csermely and released on 28 October.
Lobby group warns UK on delaying euro entry
UK - Eight out of the 10 states poised to join the European Union could be ready for euro membership by 2007, increasing the risk that the UK will be isolated unless it joins soon, according to Britain in Europe.
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Minutes
MINUTES - Minutes of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee Meeting released on 23 October for the meeting of 9 and 10 October 2002. The nine MPC members voted on a proposal to maintain the repo rate at 4.0%. Six voted in favour of this, however…
Federal Reserve Board Discussion Paper
RESEARCH - 'Monetary Union, Price Level Convergence, and Inflation: How Close is Europe to the United States?' by John H. Rogers, published 21 October. In the article the author examines the decline in European price level dispersion and whether this…