January 2010 | EU-Vatican monetary agreement revised

A renegotiated monetary agreement between the EU and the Vatican City State entered into force on 1 January, doubling the Vatican's allowed issuance of euro coins. The Vatican will now be able to order its coins from any EU mint experienced in minting euro coins. It must also transpose EU legislation on euro counterfeiting and money laundering by the end of 2010 and accept the European Court of Justice as the only jurisdiction responsible for settling disputes under the agreement. A revised monetary agreement with San Marino is also in the pipeline, while negotiations with Monaco should be launched in 2010. A new agreement with Andorra is expected to be finalised during the Spanish Presidency.

BASIC TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT

The annual ceiling (in value terms) for the issuance of euro coins by the Vatican City State shall becalculated by the Joint Committee established by the present Agreement as the addition of:

- a fixed part, whose initial amount for 2010 is set at EUR 2 300 000. The Joint Committee may revise annually the fixed part with a view to taking into account both inflation - on the basis of the HICPinflation of Italy in the year n-1 - and the possible significant evolutions affecting the euro coins collector market;
- a variable part, corresponding to the average per capita coin issuance of the Italian Republic in the year n-1 multiplied by the number of inhabitants of the Vatican City State.

The Vatican City State may also issue a special commemorative coin and/or collector coins in years when the Holy See is vacant. In case this special issuance brings the overall issuance above the ceiling laid down in paragraph 1, the value of this issuance shall be accounted for using the remaining part of the ceiling of the previous year and/or deduced from the ceiling of the following year.

Euro coins issued by the Vatican City State shall be identical to those issued by the Member States of the European Union which have adopted the euro as far as the face value, legal tender status, technical characteristics, artistic features of the common side and the shared artistic features of the national side are concerned.

Without prejudice to the issuance of collector coins, the Vatican City State shall put in circulation at face value at least 51% of the euro coins issued each year. The Joint Committee shall examine every five years the adequacy of the minimum proportion of coins to be introduced at face value and may decide to increase it.

The Vatican City State may issue euro collector coins. They shall be included in the annual ceiling referred to in Article 3. The issuance of euro collector coins by the Vatican City State shall be in accordance with the EU guidelines laid down for euro collector coins, which, inter alia, require the adoption of technical characteristics, artistic features and denominations that enable euro collector coins to be distinguished from coins intended for circulation.

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