Eurozone (original) (raw)

The Eurozone (also called Euro-area or Euroland) is the set of countries of the European Union which have adopted the Euro (€) currency.

Members

There are 12 members in the eurozone: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

The other three countries of the European Union are not in the Eurozone: Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom.

The European Central Bank is responsible for the monetary policy within the eurozone.

Outside the EU (and thus outside the Eurozone) there are in addition:

• Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City, countries that mint their own euro coins by virtue of agreements concluded with EU member states and approved by the Council of the European Union;
• Andorra, that uses the euro by similar agreements, without their own coins;
• Montenegro and Kosovo, that have unilaterally decided to use the euro; thus this does not involve any commitment on the part of the Eurosystem;
• Countries that have another currency, but fixed to the euro; these are also unilateral decisions; these countries include:
  • Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania
  • 14 central and west african states: they use the CFA franc, previously fixed to the French Franc, now to the Euro.
  • French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna are part of France but not part of the European Union and use CFP franc, also previously fixed to the French Franc and now to the Euro.
  • Cape Verde previously fixed its escudo to the Portuguese escudo and now to the Euro.

Inflation

• June 2002: 1.8%
• November 2002: 2.2%
• December 2002: 2.2%

Fiscal Policy

Members of the Eurozone have to respect the stability pact and have to keep fiscal deficit below 3% of the gross domestic product. If they do not do so, they may have to pay fines.