THE EURO, THE OFFICIAL CURRENCY OF THE EUROZONE

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the euro, its history and its importance for the future of the European Union.

The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 of the 27 member states of the European Union. This group of states is known as the eurozone or euro area and includes about 343 million citizens as of 2019.

The euro, which is divided into 100 cents, is the second-largest and second-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar.

The currency is also used officially by the institutions of the European Union, by four European microstates that are not EU members, the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, as well as unilaterally by Montenegro and Kosovo. Outside Europe, a number of special territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally, over 200 million people worldwide use currencies pegged to the euro.

The euro is the second-largest reserve currency as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar.

As of December 2019, with more than €1.3 trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world.

The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995.

The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$1.1743).

Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members, and by March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies.

More information: European Central Bank

While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.83 within two years (26 October 2000), it has traded above the U.S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.60 on 18 July 2008 and since then returning near to its original issue rate.

In late 2009, the euro became immersed in the European sovereign-debt crisis, which led to the creation of the European Financial Stability Facility as well as other reforms aimed at stabilising and strengthening the currency.

The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) and the Eurosystem, composed of the central banks of the eurozone countries. As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all member states, and the operation of the eurozone payment systems.

The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, although not all states have done so. Denmark has negotiated exemptions, while Sweden (which joined the EU in 1995, after the Maastricht Treaty was signed) turned down the euro in a non-binding referendum in 2003, and has circumvented the obligation to adopt the euro by not meeting the monetary and budgetary requirements.

All nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. The Maastricht Treaty was later amended by the Treaty of Nice, which closed the gaps and loopholes in the Maastricht and Rome Treaties.

More information: National Bank of Belgium

The euro is the sole currency of 19 EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. These countries constitute the eurozone, some 343 million people in total as of 2018.

With all but one (Denmark) EU members obliged to join when economic conditions permit, together with future members of the EU, the enlargement of the eurozone is set to continue. Outside the EU, the euro is also the sole currency of Montenegro and Kosovo and several European microstates (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City) as well as in three overseas territories of France that are not themselves part of the EU, namely Saint Barthélemy, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. Together this direct usage of the euro outside the EU affects nearly 3 million people.

The euro has been used as a trading currency in Cuba since 1998, Syria since 2006, and Venezuela since 2018.

In 2009, Zimbabwe abandoned its local currency and used major currencies instead, including the euro and the United States dollar.

More information: The Balance

 The euro is our common fate,
and Europe is our common future.

Angela Merkel

THE TREATY OF LISBON, THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the Treaty of Lisbon, the constitutional basis of the European Union, that was signed on a day like today in 2007.

The Treaty of Lisbon, initially known as the Reform Treaty, is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU).

The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member states on 13 December 2007, entered into force on 1 December 2009.

It amends the Maastricht Treaty (1992), known in updated form as the Treaty on European Union (2007) or TEU, as well as the Treaty of Rome (1957), known in updated form as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2007) or TFEU.

It also amends the attached treaty protocols, as well as the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).

Prominent changes included the move from unanimity to qualified majority voting in at least 45 policy areas in the Council of Ministers, a change in calculating such a majority to a new double majority, a more powerful European Parliament forming a bicameral legislature alongside the Council of Ministers under the ordinary legislative procedure, a consolidated legal personality for the EU and the creation of a long-term President of the European Council and a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The Treaty also made the Union's bill of rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding. For the first time, the treaty gave member states the explicit legal right to leave the EU, and established a procedure by which to do so.

The stated aim of the treaty was to complete the process started by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and by the Treaty of Nice, with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to improving the coherence of its action.

Opponents of the Treaty of Lisbon, such as former Danish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jens-Peter Bonde, argued that it would centralize the EU, and weaken democracy by moving power away from national electorates. Supporters argue that it brings more checks and balances into the EU system, with stronger powers for the European Parliament and a new role for national parliaments.

More information: European Parliament

Negotiations to modify EU institutions began in 2001, resulting first in the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, which would have repealed the existing European treaties and replaced them with a constitution.

Although ratified by a majority of member states, this was abandoned after being rejected by 55% of French voters on 29 May 2005 and then by 61% of Dutch voters on 1 June 2005.

After a period of reflection, member states agreed instead to maintain the existing treaties and amend them, to bring into law a number of the reforms that had been envisaged in the abandoned constitution. An amending reform treaty was drawn up and signed in Lisbon in 2007.

It was originally intended to have been ratified by all member states by the end of 2008. This timetable failed, primarily due to the initial rejection of the Treaty in June 2008 by the Irish electorate, a decision which was reversed in a second referendum in October 2009 after Ireland secured a number of concessions related to the treaty.

The need to review the EU's constitutional framework, particularly in light of the accession of ten new Member States in 2004, was highlighted in a declaration annexed to the Treaty of Nice in 2001. The agreements at Nice had paved the way for further enlargement of the Union by reforming voting procedures.

The Laeken declaration of December 2001 committed the EU to improving democracy, transparency and efficiency, and set out the process by which a constitution aiming to achieve these goals could be created. The European Convention was established, presided over by former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, and was given the task of consulting as widely as possible across Europe with the aim of producing a first draft of the Constitution. The final text of the proposed Constitution was agreed upon at the summit meeting on 18–19 June 2004 under the presidency of Ireland.

Until the Lisbon Treaty, the EU did not have any explicit law respecting the foreign investment regulations.

The Constitution, having been agreed by heads of government from the 25 Member States, was signed at a ceremony in Rome on 29 October 2004. Before it could enter into force, however, it had to be ratified by each member state. Ratification took different forms in each country, depending on the traditions, constitutional arrangements, and political processes of each country.

In 2005, referendums held in France and the Netherlands rejected the European Constitution. While the majority of the Member States already had ratified the European Constitution, mostly through parliamentary ratification, although Spain and Luxembourg held referendums, due to the requirement of unanimity to amend the treaties of the EU, it became clear that it could not enter into force. This led to a period of reflection and the political end of the proposed European Constitution.

In 2007, Germany took over the rotating EU Presidency and declared the period of reflection over. By March, the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, the Berlin Declaration was adopted by all Member States. This declaration outlined the intention of all Member States to agree on a new treaty in time for the 2009 Parliamentary elections, that is, to have a ratified treaty before mid-2009.

More information: Fondation Robert Schuman

Already before the Berlin Declaration, the Amato Group (officially the Action Committee for European Democracy, ACED) -a group of European politicians, backed by the Barroso Commission with two representatives in the group-worked unofficially on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, EU Constitution.

On 4 June 2007, the group released their text in French -cut from 63,000 words in 448 articles in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe to 12,800 words in 70 articles.  In the Berlin Declaration, the EU leaders unofficially set a new timeline for the new treaty:

-21–23 June 2007. European Council meeting in Brussels, mandate for Intergovernmental Conference (IGC)

-23 July 2007. IGC in Lisbon, text of Reform Treaty

-7–8 September 2007. Foreign Ministers' meeting

-18–19 October 2007. European Council in Lisbon, final agreement on Reform Treaty

-13 December 2007. Signing in Lisbon

-1 January 2009. Intended date of entry into force

More information: Proyectos

The fundamentals of the Constitution have been maintained

in large part…
We have renounced everything

that makes people think of a state,
like the flag and the national anthem.

Angela Merkel

MAASTRICHT TREATY, BIRTH OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Today, The Grandma has been reading about the history of the EU. On a day like today in 1992 the Maastricht Treaty was signed leading to the creation of the European Union. 

The Maastricht Treaty, concluded in 1992 between the 12 member states of the European Communities, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU).

Formally the Treaty on the European Union, it announced a new stage in the process of European integration chiefly in provisions for a shared European citizenship, for the eventual introduction of a single currency, and with less precision for common foreign and security policies. 

Although these were widely seen to presage a federal Europe, the focus of constitutional debate shifted to the later 2007 Treaty of Lisbon. In the wake of the Eurozone debt crisis unfolding from 2009, the most enduring reference to the Maastricht Treaty has been to the rules of compliance -the Maastricht criteria- for the currency union.

Against the background of the end of the Cold War and the re-unification of Germany, and in anticipation of accelerated globalization, the treaty negotiated tensions between member states seeking deeper integration and those wishing to retain greater national control. The resulting compromise faced what was to be the first in a series of EU treaty ratification crises.

From the establishment of the European Economic Community in 1957, integrationists argued the free movement of workers was the logical corollary of the free movement of capital, goods and services and integral to the establishment of a common and later single European market.

In time, the tension between the transferred worker as a mobile unit of production contributing to the success of the single market, and the reality of the Community migrants as individuals, seeking to exercise a personal right to live and work in another state for their own, and their families', welfare, asserted itself. The Treaty built on the growing suggestion that there was a Community-wide basis for citizenship rights.

More information: Europa

The Treaty rules that every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. This common and parallel citizenship accords the Member State migrants not only the civil right to take up residence and employment, but also, and for the first time, political rights.

In a new EU country of residence Member-State nationals have the right to vote, and to stand, in both local and European elections. Unresolved in the Treaty is the question of their access to social rights. Political debate continued as to who should have access to public services and welfare systems funded by taxation.

The four convergence criteria, as detailed in attached protocols, impose control over inflation, public debt and the public deficit, exchange rate stability and domestic interest rates. With limited leeway granted in exceptional circumstances, the obligations are to maintain:

-Inflation at a rate no more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of the three best performing (the lowest inflation) Member States.

-A budgetary position that avoids excessive government deficits defined in ratios to gross domestic product (GDP) of greater than 3% for annual deficits and 60% for gross government debt.

-The exchange rate of the national currency within the normal fluctuation margins by the exchange-rate mechanism of the European Monetary System without severe tensions for at least the last two years.

-Nominal long-term interest rates no more than 2 percentage points higher than in the three Member States with the lowest inflation.

More information: Europa

 Maastricht confirmed that Europe is a peace project
and the European Union is, indeed,
in the history of the world the most successful
peace project in human lives.

Federica Mogherini

BREXIT, THE UNITED KINGDOM VOTES TO LEAVE THE EU

Brexit

Today, The Grandma has been reading news about Brexit.

On a day like today in 2016, the Brexit referendum, took place in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate if the country should remain a member of, or leave the European Union.

It seems a non-ended story with lots of problems, misunderstandings and difficulties. It seems easier to enter in the European Union that to leave it, at least, if we take Brexit as an example.

The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, also known as the EU referendum and the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate if the country should remain a member of, or leave the European Union (EU), under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 and also the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

The referendum resulted in 51.9% of votes being in favour of leaving the EU. Although legally the referendum was non-binding, the government of that time had promised to implement the result, and it initiated the official EU withdrawal process on 29 March 2017, meaning that the UK was due to leave the EU before 11PM on 29 March 2019, UK time, when the two-year period for Brexit negotiations expired.

More information: BBC

Membership of the EU and its predecessors has long been a topic of debate in the United Kingdom. The country joined what were then the three European Communities, principally the European Economic Community EEC or Common Market, in 1973. A previous referendum on continued membership of the then European Communities, Common Market, was held in 1975, and it was approved by 67.2% of those who voted.

In May 2015, in accordance with a Conservative Party manifesto commitment following their victory at the 2015 UK general election, the legal basis for a referendum on EU membership was established by the UK Parliament through the European Union Referendum Act 2015.

Pro and Anti Brexit Campaigns

Britain Stronger in Europe was the official group campaigning for the UK to remain in the EU, and was endorsed by the Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne.

Vote Leave was the official group campaigning for the UK to leave the EU, and was fronted by the Conservative MP Boris Johnson, Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove and Labour MP Gisela Stuart.

Other campaign groups, political parties, businesses, trade unions, newspapers and prominent individuals were also involved, and each side had supporters from across the political spectrum.

Immediately after the result, financial markets reacted negatively worldwide, and Cameron announced that he would resign as Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party, having campaigned unsuccessfully for a Remain vote.

It was the first time that a national referendum result had gone against the preferred option of the UK Government. Cameron was succeeded by Home Secretary Theresa May on 13 July 2016. The opposition Labour Party also faced a leadership challenge as a result of the EU referendum.

Several campaign groups and parties, supporting both leave and remain, have been fined by the Electoral Commission for campaign finance irregularities, with the fines imposed on Leave. EU and BeLeave constrained by the cap on the commission's fines. There is also an ongoing investigation into possible Russian interference in the referendum.

Brexit, a portmanteau of British and exit, is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU).

Following a referendum held on 23 June 2016 in which 51.9 per cent of those voting supported leaving the EU, the Government invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, starting a two-year process which was due to conclude with the UK's exit on 29 March 2019 -a deadline which has since been extended to 31 October 2019.

More information: Finantial Times

Withdrawal from the EU has been advocated by both left-wing and right-wing Eurosceptics, while pro-Europeanists, who also span the political spectrum, have advocated continued membership and maintaining the customs union and single market.

The UK joined the European Communities (EC) in 1973 under the Conservative government of Edward Heath, with continued membership endorsed by a referendum in 1975.

In the 1970s and 1980s, withdrawal from the EC was advocated mainly by the political left, with the Labour Party's 1983 election manifesto advocating full withdrawal.

Brexit Results Yes (Blue) vs No (Yellow)

From the 1990s, opposition to further European integration came mainly from the right, and divisions within the Conservative Party led to rebellion over the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.

The growth of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the early 2010s and the influence of the cross-party People's Pledge campaign have been described as influential in bringing about a referendum.

The Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, pledged during the campaign for the 2015 general election to hold a new referendum -a promise which he fulfilled in 2016 following pressure from the Eurosceptic wing of his party. Cameron, who had campaigned to remain, resigned after the result and was succeeded by Theresa May, his former Home Secretary. She called a snap general election less than a year later but lost her overall majority. Her minority government is supported in key votes by the Democratic Unionist Party.

On 29 March 2017, the Government of the United Kingdom invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.

Theresa May announced the government's intention not to seek permanent membership of the European single market or the EU customs union after leaving the EU and promised to repeal the European Communities Act of 1972 and incorporate existing European Union law into UK domestic law.

Negotiations with the EU officially started in June 2017. In November 2018, the Draft Withdrawal Agreement, negotiated between the UK Government and the EU, was published. The House of Commons voted against the agreement by a margin of 432 to 202, the largest parliamentary defeat in history for a sitting UK government, on 15 January 2019, and again on 12 March with a margin of 391 to 242 against the agreement.

More information: Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce

On 14 March 2019, the House of Commons voted for the Prime Minister Theresa May, to ask the EU for such an extension of the period allowed for the negotiation. Members from across the House of Commons rejected the agreement with the leadership of the Labour Party stating in public debates in the House of Commons that any deal must maintain a customs union and single market, and with a large percentage of its members rejecting the Irish backstop as it is currently drafted in the EU withdrawal agreement. Opponents of the EU Withdrawal Agreement cited concerns that the agreement as drafted could plunge Northern Ireland into a conflict and spark a return of The Troubles as a result of Brexit.

The broad consensus among economists is that Brexit will likely reduce the UK's real per capita income in the medium term and long term, and that the Brexit referendum itself damaged the economy. Studies on effects since the referendum show a reduction in GDP, trade and investment, as well as household losses from increased inflation.

Brexit is likely to reduce immigration from European Economic Area (EEA) countries to the UK, and poses challenges for UK higher education and academic research.

As of May 2019, the size of the divorce bill -the UK's inheritance of existing EU trade agreements -and relations with Ireland and other EU member states remains uncertain. The precise impact on the UK depends on whether the process will be a hard or soft Brexit.

More information: BBC

Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union 

or leave the European Union?

-Remain a member of the European Union

-Leave the European Union

A ddylai'r Deyrnas Unedig aros yn aelod o'r Undeb Ewropeaidd 

neu adael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd?

-Aros yn aelod o'r Undeb Ewropeaidd

-Gadael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd

THE BONDS ARE IN BERLIN: ICH BIN EIN BERLINER!

Spittelmarkt, Berlin (1909)

After having a pleasant flight from Barcelona and had listened all the security instructions, The Bonds have arrived to Berlin this afternoon. They're hosted in the Adlon Kempinski Hotel near the downtown of the city. They are visiting the city in this moment and enjoying the night life.

Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.6 million people, Berlin is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union. Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of rivers Spree and Havel, it is the centre of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about 6 million residents from more than 180 nations.Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes. 

More information: Red Town Hall

First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417–1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945). Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world. After World War II, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989) and East Germany territory.

Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of a unified Germany.

John F. Kennedy in Berlin, 1963

Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media and science. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations and convention venues. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination. Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics.

More information: Rare Historical Photos

Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums, entertainment venues and is host to many sporting events. Its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts and a high quality of living. Over the last decade Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene.

Berlin is still going through a transition since the Cold War, both in 

what used to be East and West Berlin. I can still sense the confusion and the struggle for identity there in the streets. There's a pulse to it. 

Diane Kruger