Euro banknotes and coins IV: Article 128 TFEU

What does the EU Lisbon Treaty say about issuing euro banknotes and euro coins?

We start by looking at the contents of the Treaty of Lisbon.

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The current Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) was ─ perhaps still is destined ─ to become the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and generally the so called innovations as agreed in the 2004 IGC were to be inserted into the Treaty by way of specific modifications ‘in the usual manner’ (points 17 and 18, pages 6 and 7).

I found nothing specific in the mandate of the intergovernmental conference (IGC 2007 Mandate, Council document 11218/07, 26 June 2007) about Article 106 TEC.

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Original Lisbon Treaty

In Article 2, point 92 of the original Treaty of Lisbon (ToL) the IGC 2007 agreed on the following concerning Article 106 TEC (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/72─73):


92) Article 106 shall be amended as follows:

(a) in paragraph 1, first sentence, the word ‘euro’ shall be inserted before ‘banknotes’;

(b) in paragraph 2, first sentence, the word ‘euro’ shall be inserted before ‘coins’; at the beginning of the second sentence, the words ‘The Council may, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 252 and after consulting the ECB’ shall be replaced by: ‘The Council, on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament and the European Central Bank, may’.

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Renumbering

The TFEU table of equivalences confirms that Article 106 TFEU (ToL) in the original Treaty of Lisbon was to be renumbered Article 128 TFEU in the consolidated version, under the title ‘Economic and monetary policy’, renumbered Title VIII (OJ 17.12.2007 C 306/211─212).

(In the consolidated version of the Lisbon Treaty, OJ 9.5.2008 C 115, the Tables of equivalences start on page 361, but the ToL numbers have been omitted.)

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Consolidated Lisbon Treaty

Article 128 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is found in the consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJ 9.5.2008 C 115/102─103:

Part Three Union policies and internal actions

Title VIII Economic and monetary policy

Chapter 2 Monetary policy
Article 128 TFEU
(ex Article 106 TEC)

1. The European Central Bank shall have the exclusive right to authorise the issue of euro banknotes within the Union. The European Central Bank and the national central banks may issue such notes. The banknotes issued by the European Central Bank and the national central banks shall be the only such notes to have the status of legal tender within the Union.

2. Member States may issue euro coins subject to approval by the European Central Bank of the volume of the issue. The Council, on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament and the European Central Bank, may adopt measures to harmonise the denominations and technical specifications of all coins intended for circulation to the extent necessary to permit their smooth circulation within the Union.

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Having already seen the small amendments Article 106 TEC is undergoing, the following post is going to compare Article 128 TFEU with the current TEC, the draft Constitution and the Constitution.

Later we will take a look at some legislative materials and comments.


Ralf Grahn