Eurozone

Eurozone or euro-area 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 CFAF, previously fixed to the French Franc, 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%. If they do not do so, they will have to pay fines.

See also: economy.