-->Hi,

ein neuer Euroschein (1 €) soll demnächst kommen. Der Entwurf liegt schon bei der EZB auf dem Tisch (die übliche Bauwerkerei).

Dazu gebe ich gern einen kleinen Beitrag zum EZB/Banknoten-Problem von Otto Steiger (Uni Bremen) weiter. Die nationalen Buchstaben waren eigentlich bekannt, das mit den Druckerei-Buchstaben freilich ist für viele vermutlich neu.

On the Identification of the Euro Banknotes and their Printing Works

By Otto Steiger, Universität Bremen,1st version March, 2ndJune 2003



In spite of the imprint"ECB" on the obverse of the Euro banknotes, they are not issued by the ECB but by the national central banks. The identification code is easy to decipher. When, on 11 September 1998, the Governing Council of the Eurosystem decided not to indicate the issuing banks on the Euro banknotes to avoid discrimination of banknotes of nations faced with a political or economic crisis, it developed instead the following system:

The different national central banks were put in alphabetical order according to their nations' name in official language and then provided with the letters of the inverted alphabet which was put before the banknotes' serial numbers on the reverse, e.g. Belgium - België / Belgique - as alphabetical first nation got the last letter, Z, and Finland - Suomi - as alphabetical last nation the 12th letter from the end, L. The only exception from this rule was made later for an EU-nation which in 1998 was not considered at all because at that time nobody thought it would meet the Maastricht criteria: Greece - Ellas - which as alphabetical third nation got the second letter from the end, Y. In 1998, this letter had been reserved for Denmark - Danmark - as alphabetical second nation but who will not join EMU in a near future, as will be the case for Sweden (?) - Sverige - and Great Britain & Northern Ireland - United Kingdom - who got the letters K and J respectively. Letters like Q and W, which do not exist in some languages, or B, I and O, which can be confused with numbers, were deleted.

A complete list of the Euro banknotes according to the different nations' banks of issue runs as follows:
Z = België / Belgique S = Italia
Y = Ellas R = Luxembourg / Luxemburg
X = Deutschland P = Nederland
V = España N = Ã-sterreich
U = France M = Portugal
T = Ireland / Eire L = Suomi / Finland


There does not exist a letter for the ECB, of course, because it is not a bank of issue. The item"banknotes in circulation" in its balance sheets from 1 January 2002 onward is a
misleading label. These notes amount to 8 percent of the banknotes issued by the national
central banks and only booked in the ECB's balance sheet to make it look like a bank of issue.

Also the code for the printing works of the Euro notes is easy to decipher. It consists of a combination of letters and numbers, with the first letter indicating the printing works. The code is printed on the obverse of the notes in their lower half: for the 5 € note on the left of the circle of the 12 Euro stars, for the 10, 20 and 500 € notes inside one of the left Euro stars, for the 50 € note on the right of the Euro stars and for the 200 € note on the right of the second lowest left Euro star.

As in the case of the national central banks, the letters assigned to the printing works were derived by a combination of their nations' names and the alphabet. This time, however, not the latter's but the formers' alphabetical order was inverted, i.e. A, the first letter, was assigned to the alphabetically last nation, United Kingdom, and T, the 16th letter (there are 16 printing works), to the first nation, België / Belgique. Exceptions from this rule are the assignment of H and E to the private printing works of the United Kingdom and France respectively. Again, letters B, I, O, Q and W were deleted.
It has to be observed that Portugal and Luxembourg have no printing works, while those of Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom deliver Euro banknotes to EMU central banks although these nations are not members of EMU.

A complete list of the Euro notes' printing works runs as follows:

A Bank of England Printing Works (United Kingdom)
C AB Tumba Bruk (Sverige)
D Setec Oy (Suomi / Finland)
E F.C. Oberthur (France)
F Ã-sterreichische Nationalbank (Ã-sterreich)
G J. Enschede Security Printing (Nederland)
H De la Rue (United Kingdom)
J Banca d'Italia (Italia)
K Central Bank of Ireland (Ireland)
L Banque de France (France)
M Fabricia Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (España)
N Bank of Greece (Ellas)
P Giesecke & Devrient (Deutschland)
R Bundesdruckerei (Deutschland)
S Danmarks Nationalbank (Danmark)
T Nationalbank van België / Banque National de Belgique (België / Belgique)


Eine wichtige Frage wird sein (falls bereits an die heraufziehende Hyperinflation per Notendruck geglautb wird): Welche Buchstaben bzw. Buchstabenkombinationen erhalten gegenüber welchen Auf- oder Abgeld?

Das Publikum, das"gute deutsche Währung" schätzt, könnte sich bei Entgegennahme von Scheinen z.B. auf die Combo X / P versteifen. Auch entsprechende Aushänge in Geschäften (sofern es dann"soweit" wäre) wie"Nehmen nur Noten N / H (!) in Zahlung" oder Ähnliches würde Wunder der Erkenntnis bewirken.

Daraus ergibt sich wohl, dass eine Banknoten-Inflation ausgeschlossen werden kann, denn in einer Infla will jeder möglichst schnell sich von den zur Entwertung anstehenden Scheinen trennen kann es dann aber nicht, da kein Kontraktzwang besteht.

Sollte also jemand auf die Idee kommen mit Sachen aufzuwarten wie"Inflationserwartung!" oder"Jetzt machen wir Inflation und töten jeden Anflug einer Deflation!" wird ihm flugs entgegen schallen:"Gern, aber dann nehmen wir nur noch Scheine mit der Kombination Soundso an!"

So ist das also, wenn man nicht aufpasst als Geld- und Währungspolitiker.

Für mich ist das Infla-Szenario bis auf weiteres beerdigt, jedenfalls sofern es sich aufs"Gelddrucken" bezieht.

Alles andere (EZB-Position 4, usw.) ist schon hinlänglich diskutiert worden.

Gruß!