View source for European Currency Unit

{{Short description|Unit of account of the European Community}}
{{Redirect|XEU|the radio station branded as XEU|XHU-FM}}
{{Distinguish|text=the [[euro]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox currency
| image_1 = Unicode 0x20A0.svg
| iso_code = XEU
| symbol = ₠
| nickname = ECU
| date_of_introduction = 13 April 1979
| using_countries = {{Ubl
  |[[European Economic Community]] {{Small|(1979–1998)}}
  |[[European Union]] {{Small|(1993–1998)}}
}}
| pegged_with = {{Ubl
  |8 currencies (1979–1989)
  |12 currencies (1989–1998)
}}
| replaced_currency = [[European Unit of Account]]
| date_of_withdrawal = 31 December 1998
| replaced_by_currency = [[Euro]]
| obsolete = yes
}}
The '''European Currency Unit''' ({{Langx|fr|Unité de compte européenne}}, {{Langx|es|Unidad Monetaria Europea}}, {{Langx|de|Europäische Währungseinheit}}{{Hsp}}; ⟨'''{{char|₠}}'''⟩, '''ECU''', or '''XEU''') was a [[unit of account]] used by the [[European Economic Community]] and composed of a [[Currency basket|basket]] of member country currencies. The ECU came in to operation on 13 March 1979 and was assigned the [[ISO&nbsp;4217]] code.<ref name="Sauder" /> The ECU replaced the [[European Unit of Account]] (EUA) at parity in 1979, and it was later replaced by the [[euro]] (EUR) at parity on 1&nbsp;January 1999.<ref name="Sauder">{{Cite web |title=European Currency Unit (ECU) |url=http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/ECU.html |access-date=25 April 2020 |website=[[UBC Sauder School of Business]]}}</ref>

As a unit of account, the ECU was not a circulating currency and did not replace or override the value of the currency of EEC member countries. However, it was used to price some international financial transactions and capital transfers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=David L. |title=Wall Street Words: An Essential A to Z Guide for Today's Investor |date=September 2003 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |isbn=9780395886076 |edition=3rd |location=New York |page=130}}</ref>

== Exchange rate ==
Using a mechanism known as the "[[snake in the tunnel]]", the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism]] was an attempt to minimize fluctuations between member state currencies—initially by managing the variance of each against its respective ECU reference rate—with the aim to achieve fixed ratios over time, and so enable the European Single Currency (which became known as the euro) to replace national currencies.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

== Hard ECU proposal ==
In 1990 the British [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[John Major]] proposed the creation of a 'hard' ECU, which different national currencies could compete against and, if the ECU was successful, could lead to a single currency.<ref name="Major">{{Cite book|last=Major|first=John|title=John Major: The Autobiography|date=24 July 1999|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|isbn=9780002570046|location=London|pages=150–51|author-link=John Major}}</ref> The move was seen by France and Germany as a wrecking tactic, especially when the increasingly [[Euroscepticism|Eurosceptic]] [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] announced her outright opposition to the [[Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union|European Economic and Monetary Union]] (EMU), and the idea was abandoned.<ref name=Major />

== Euro replaces the ECU ==

On 1 January 1999, the euro (with the code EUR and symbol ⟨[[Euro sign|€]]⟩) replaced the ECU at par (one-to-one).<ref name=Sauder /> Unlike the ECU, the euro is a real currency, although not all member states participate (for details on euro membership see [[Eurozone]]). Two of the countries in the ECU basket of currencies, the UK and [[Denmark]], did not join the eurozone, and a third, [[Greece]], joined late. On the other hand, [[Finland]] and [[Austria]] joined the eurozone from the beginning, even though their currencies were not part of the ECU basket, since they had joined the EU in 1995, two years after the ECU composition was "frozen".

=== Legal implications ===

Due to the ECU being used in some international financial transactions, there was a concern that foreign courts might not recognize the euro as the legal successor to the ECU. This was unlikely to be a problem, since it is a generally accepted principle of [[private international law]] that states determine their currencies, and that therefore states would accept the [[European Union]] legislation to that effect. However, for abundant caution, several foreign jurisdictions adopted legislation to ensure a smooth transition. Of particular importance, the [[U.S. state]]s of [[Illinois]] and [[New York (state)|New York]] adopted legislation to ensure a large proportion of international financial contracts recognized the euro as the successor of the ECU.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lenihan |first1=Niall |title=The legal implications of the European Monetary Union under U.S. and New York Law |url=https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/pages/publication_summary11222_en.htm |website=ec.europa.eu |publisher=Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs |access-date=6 February 2022 |date=1998}}</ref>

== Symbol and name ==
The ECU's symbol, '''₠''', consists of an interlaced ''C'' and ''E''{{Hsp}}—the initials of "[[European Economic Community|European Community]]" in many [[languages of Europe]]. However, the symbol was not widely adopted. Few computer systems utilized by financial institutions and governments could render it, and commercial payment systems were obliged to use the ISO code, XEU, as with other currencies without widely recognised currency symbols. The [[Unicode]] designation for the ECU symbol ({{Unichar|20A0|EURO-CURRENCY SIGN}}) was not implemented on many personal computer operating systems until the release of Unicode v2.1 in May 1998, which also introduced the [[euro sign]] ({{Unichar|20AC|EURO SIGN}}). [[Microsoft]] did include the ECU symbol in many of its European versions of [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] beginning in the early 1990s; however, accessing it required the use of an [[Alt code]], and not all typefaces provided a glyph. By 2009, Microsoft referred to the ECU symbol as "historical".<ref>{{Cite web|date=25 June 2009|title=euro Currency Symbol FAQ|url=https://www.microsoft.com/typography/EuroSymbolFAQ.mspx|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205061421/https://www.microsoft.com/typography/EuroSymbolFAQ.mspx|archive-date=5 December 2012|access-date=18 August 2020|website=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref> Support among other operating systems, including [[Macintosh operating systems]], was inconsistent.

Although the acronym for ECU is formed from the English name of the unit, the [[écu]] was a family of gold coins minted during the reign of [[Louis IX of France]]. The name of the ECU's successor, the [[euro]], was chosen because the name did not favor any single language, nation, or historical period.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ungerer|first=Horst|title=A Concise History of European Monetary Integration: From EPU to EMU|date=July 1997|publisher=Quorum Books|isbn=9780899309811|location=Westport, Connecticut|page=286}}</ref>

== Coins and notes ==
As the ECU was only an electronic unit of account and not a full currency, it did not have any official [[coin]]s or [[Banknote|note]]s that could be used for everyday transactions. However, various European countries and organizations like the [[European Parliament]] made [[Commemorative coin|commemorative]] and [[mock-up]] coins and notes. A common theme on the coins was usually celebrating [[Pan-European identity|European unity]], such as celebrating membership of the European Union.

[[Gibraltar]] issued commemorative coins from 1993<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-06-14 |orig-date=14 June 2007: Commencement date of latest amending enactment |title=Gibraltar Coinage (Ecu) Act, 1990 |url=https://www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/legislations/gibraltar-coinage-ecu-act-1990-1338 |access-date=2 April 2022 |website=HM Government of Gibraltar: Laws of Gibraltar |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220402105647/https://www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/uploads/legislations/gibraltar-coinage/1990-45/1990-45(14-06-07).pdf |archive-date= 2022-04-02}}</ref>  through 1998,{{cn|date=March 2024}} though these were (nominally) [[legal tender]] only in Gibraltar, which uses the [[pound sterling]].

== Currency basket ==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Composition of 1 ECU<ref name="Sauder" />
!Period
!colspan=12|No. of national currency units (weight, i.e. % contribution to total value)
|-
!rowspan=2|1979–1984{{Efn-lg|Period from {{Daterangedash|1979-03-13|1984-09-16|dmy}}.}}
!{{flagicon|BEL|size=16px}} [[Belgian franc|BEF]]
!{{flagicon|DEU|size=16px}} [[Deutsche Mark|DEM]]
!{{flagicon|DEN|size=16px}} [[Danish krone|DKK]]
!{{flagicon|FRA|size=16px}} [[French franc|FRF]]
!{{flagicon|GBR|size=16px}} [[Pound sterling|GBP]]
!{{flagicon|IRL|size=16px}} [[Irish pound|IEP]]
!{{flagicon|ITA|size=16px}} [[Italian lira|ITL]]
!{{flagicon|NLD|size=16px}} [[Dutch guilder|NLG]]
!{{flagicon|LUX|size=16px}} [[Luxembourg franc|LUF]]{{Efn-lg|The [[Luxembourg franc]] was in a currency union with the [[Belgian franc]], thus represented in the BEF's weight and percentage of the ECU.|name=belux}}
| colspan="3" rowspan="4" {{Unknown|}}
|-

|3.80 (9.64%)
|0.828 (32.98%)
|0.217 (3.06%)
|1.15 (19.83%)
|0.0885 (13.34%)
|0.00759 (1.15%)
|109 (9.49%)
|0.286 (10.51%)
|—
|-
!rowspan=2|1984–1989{{Efn-lg|Period from {{Daterangedash|1984-09-17|1989-09-21|dmy}}.}}
!{{flagicon|BEL|size=16px}} [[Belgian franc|BEF]]
!{{flagicon|DEU|size=16px}} [[Deutsche Mark|DEM]]
!{{flagicon|DEN|size=16px}} [[Danish krone|DKK]]
!{{flagicon|FRA|size=16px}} [[French franc|FRF]]
!{{flagicon|GBR|size=16px}} [[Pound sterling|GBP]]
!{{flagicon|IRL|size=16px}} [[Irish pound|IEP]]
!{{flagicon|ITA|size=16px}} [[Italian lira|ITL]]
!{{flagicon|NLD|size=16px}} [[Dutch guilder|NLG]]
!{{flagicon|LUX|size=16px}} [[Luxembourg franc|LUF]]{{Efn-lg|name=belux}}
|-

|3.85 (8.57%)
|0.719 (32.08%)
|0.219 (2.69%)
|1.31 (19.06%)
|0.0878 (14.98%)
|0.00871 (1.20%)
|140 (9.98%)
|0.256 (10.13%)
|—
|-
!rowspan=2|1989–1998{{Efn-lg|Period from {{Daterangedash|1989-09-21|1998-12-31|dmy}}.}}
!{{flagicon|BEL|size=16px}} [[Belgian franc|BEF]]
!{{flagicon|DEU|size=16px}} [[Deutsche Mark|DEM]]
!{{flagicon|DEN|size=16px}} [[Danish krone|DKK]]
!{{flagicon|FRA|size=16px}} [[French franc|FRF]]
!{{flagicon|GBR|size=16px}} [[Pound sterling|GBP]]
!{{flagicon|IRL|size=16px}} [[Irish pound|IEP]]
!{{flagicon|ITA|size=16px}} [[Italian lira|ITL]]
!{{flagicon|NLD|size=16px}} [[Dutch guilder|NLG]]
!{{flagicon|LUX|size=16px}} [[Luxembourg franc|LUF]]
!{{flagicon|ESP|size=16px}} [[Spanish peseta|ESP]]
!{{flagicon|GRC|size=16px}} [[Modern drachma|GRD]]
!{{flagicon|PRT|size=16px}} [[Portuguese escudo|PTE]]
|-

|3.301 (8.183%)
|0.6242 (31.915%)
|0.1976 (2.653%)
|1.332 (20.306%)
|0.08784 (12.452%)
|0.008552 (1.086%)
|151.8 (7.84%)
|0.2198 (9.87%)
|0.13 (0.322%)
|6.885 (4.138%)
|1.44 (0.437%)
|1.393 (0.695%)
|-
!rowspan=2|1999
! colspan="12" |{{flagicon|EU|size=16px}} [[Euro|EUR]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Werner|first=Antweiler|date=7 December 2001|title=The EURO - Europes's New Currency|url=http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/euro/|access-date=19 August 2020|website=[[UBC Sauder School of Business]]}}</ref>
|-
| colspan="12" |1.0 (100%)
|}
{{Notelist-lg|colwidth=30em}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|European Union|Money|Numismatics}}
* [[Asian Monetary Unit]]
* [[Eco (currency)]]
* [[Green pound]]
* [[World currency unit]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/history/emu/html/index.en.html Economic and Monetary Union] at the [[European Central Bank]]
* [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=ecus%2Ceuros&year_start=1900&year_end=2019&case_insensitive=on&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3 Google Ngrams: Historical usage graph of "ecus" and "euros" in English]

{{Currency signs}}
{{Euro topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1975 introductions]]
[[Category:Currencies of Europe]]
[[Category:Eurozone]]
[[Category:Currency symbols]]