91997E3988

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3988/97 by Georges Berthu (I-EDN) to the Council (15 January 1998)

Subject: Euro bank notes - distinctive national symbols

On 3 December 1996 the EMI Council decided that the future euro bank notes were not to bear any distinctive national symbols.

Can the Council explain the substantive reasons why this solution was adopted for bank notes and the apparently opposite reasons which led it to impose the opposite solution for coins?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-3986/97, E-3987/97, E-3988/97, E-3989/97 and E-3990/97 (19 March 1998)

It ensues from the allocation of powers provided for under the Treaty that the European Central Bank alone is empowered to authorize the issue of banknotes in euro, also as regards aspects relating to their presentation (Article 105(a) of the Treaty and Article 16 of the Protocol to the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank).

At its meeting in Dublin on 13 and 14 December 1996, the European Council welcomed the designs for the euro banknotes presented to it by the European Monetary Institute.

The final decisions on the matter will be taken by the European Central Bank once it has been set up in accordance with the Treaty.