Coordinates	41°19′26″N75°47′20″N
currency name	Euro
currency name in local	ευρώ
image 1	Euro_banknotes.png
image title 1	Banknotes
iso code	EUR (num. 978)
using countries
unofficial users
inflation rate	2.8%, April 2011
inflation source date	ECB, June 2009
inflation method	HICP
pegged by
sub-unit ratio 1	1/100
sub-unit name 1	cent
sub-unit inline note 1	actual usage varies depending on language
symbol	€
plural	See Euro linguistic issues
plural subunit 1	See article
frequently used coins	1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, €1, €2
other coins	1c, 2c (Not used in Netherlands and Finland)
coin article	euro coins
frequently used banknotes	€5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200, €500
banknote article	euro banknotes
nickname	The single currency
issuing authority	European Central Bank
issuing authority website	www.ecb.europa.eu
printer
printer override with original text	Y
printer website
mint
mint override with original text	Y
mint website	}}

The euro (sign: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The currency is also used in a further 5 European countries (Montenegro, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City) and the disputed territory of Kosovo. It is consequently used daily by some 332 million Europeans. Additionally, over 175 million people worldwide use currencies which are pegged to the euro, including more than 150 million people in Africa.

The euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. , with nearly €890 billion in circulation, the euro has the highest combined value of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world, having surpassed the U.S. dollar. Based on International Monetary Fund estimates of 2008 GDP and purchasing power parity among the various currencies, the eurozone is the second largest economy 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. Euro coins and banknotes entered circulation on 1 January 2002.

Since late 2009 the euro has been immersed in the European sovereign debt crisis which has led to the state bonds of three eurozone states to be downgraded to "junk" status, and the creation of the European Financial Stability Facility.

Administration

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 requirements, although not all states have done so. The United Kingdom and Denmark negotiated exemptions, while Sweden (which joined the EU in 1995, after the Maastricht Treaty was signed) turned down the euro in a 2003 referendum, 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.

Characteristics

Coins and banknotes

The euro is divided into 100 cents (sometimes referred to as euro cents, especially when distinguishing them from other currencies, and referred to as such on the common side of all cent coins). In Community legislative acts the plural forms of ''euro'' and ''cent'' are spelled without the ''s'', notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are recommended and used, with many local variations such as 'centime' in France.

All circulating coins have a ''common side'' showing the denomination or value, and a map in the background. For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, that map only showed the 15 member states which were members when the euro was introduced. Beginning in 2007 or 2008 (depending on the country) the old map is being replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the Union like Norway. The 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, however, keep their old design, showing a geographical map of Europe with the 15 member states of 2002 raised somewhat above the rest of the map. All common sides were designed by Luc Luycx. The coins also have a ''national side'' showing an image specifically chosen by the country that issued the coin. Euro coins from any member state may be freely used in any nation which has adopted the euro. The coins are issued in €2, €1, 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c, and 1c denominations. In order to avoid the use of the two smallest coins, some cash transactions are rounded to the nearest five cents in the Netherlands (by voluntary agreement) and in Finland (by law). This practice is discouraged by the Commission, as is the practice of certain shops to refuse to accept high value euro notes.

Commemorative coins with €2 face value have been issued with changes to the design of the national side of the coin. These include both commonly issued coins, such as the €2 commemorative coin for the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, and nationally issued coins, such as the coin to commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics issued by Greece. These coins are legal tender throughout the eurozone. Collector's coins with various other denominations have been issued as well, but these are not intended for general circulation, and they are legal tender only in the member state that issued them.

The design for the euro banknotes has common designs on both sides. The design was created by the Austrian designer Robert Kalina. Notes are issued in €500, €200, €100, €50, €20, €10, €5. Each banknote has its own colour and is dedicated to an artistic period of European architecture. The front of the note features windows or gateways while the back has bridges. While the designs are supposed to be devoid of any identifiable characteristics, the initial designs by Robert Kalina were of specific bridges, including the Rialto and the Pont de Neuilly, and were subsequently rendered more generic; the final designs still bear very close similarities to their specific prototypes; thus they are not truly generic.

Payments clearing, electronic funds transfer

Capital within the EU may be transferred in any amount from one country to another. All intra-EU transfers in euro are considered as domestic payments and bear the corresponding domestic transfer costs. This includes all member states of the EU, even those outside the eurozone providing the transactions are carried out in euro. Credit/debit card charging and ATM withdrawals within the eurozone are also charged as domestic, however paper-based payment orders, like cheques, have not been standardised so these are still domestic-based. The ECB has also set up a clearing system, TARGET, for large euro transactions.

Currency sign

A special euro currency sign (€) was designed after a public survey had narrowed the original ten proposals down to two. The European Commission then chose the design created by the Belgian Alain Billiet. The official story of the design history of the euro sign is disputed by Arthur Eisenmenger, a former chief graphic designer for the EEC, who claims to have created it as a generic symbol of Europe.

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The European Commission also specified a euro logo with exact proportions and foreground/background colour tones. While the Commission intended the logo to be a prescribed glyph shape, font designers made it clear that they intended to design their own variants instead. Typewriters lacking the euro sign can create it by typing a capital 'C', backspacing and overstriking it with the equal ('=') sign. Placement of the currency sign relative to the numeric amount varies from nation to nation, but for texts in English the symbol (and the ISO-standard "EUR") should precede the amount.

Introduction of the euro

The euro was established by the provisions in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. To participate in the currency, member states are meant to meet strict criteria, such as a budget deficit of less than three per cent of their GDP, a debt ratio of less than sixty per cent of GDP (both of which were ultimately widely flouted after introduction), low inflation, and interest rates close to the EU average. In the Maastricht Treaty, the United Kingdom and Denmark were granted exemptions per their request from moving to the stage of monetary union which would result in the introduction of the euro.

Economists who helped create or contributed to the euro include Fred Arditti, Neil Dowling, Wim Duisenberg, Robert Mundell, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa and Robert Tollison. (For macro-economic theory, see below.)

The name "Euro" was officially adopted in Madrid on 16 December 1995. Belgian Esperantist Germain Pirlot, a former teacher of French and history is credited of naming the new currency by sending a letter to then President of the European Commission, Jacques Santer, suggesting the name "Euro" on 4 August 1995.

Due to differences in national conventions for rounding and significant digits, all conversion between the national currencies had to be carried out using the process of triangulation via the euro. The ''definitive'' values in euro of these subdivisions (which represent the exchange rates at which the currency entered the euro) are shown at right.

The rates were determined by the Council of the European Union, based on a recommendation from the European Commission based on the market rates on 31 December 1998. They were set so that one European Currency Unit (ECU) would equal one euro. The European Currency Unit was an accounting unit used by the EU, based on the currencies of the member states; it was not a currency in its own right. They could not be set earlier, because the ECU depended on the closing exchange rate of the non-euro currencies (principally the pound sterling) that day.

The procedure used to fix the irrevocable conversion rate between the Greek drachma and the euro was different, since the euro by then was already two years old. While the conversion rates for the initial eleven currencies were determined only hours before the euro was introduced, the conversion rate for the Greek drachma was fixed several months beforehand.

The currency was introduced in non-physical form (traveller's cheques, electronic transfers, banking, etc.) at midnight on 1 January 1999, when the national currencies of participating countries (the eurozone) ceased to exist independently. Their exchange rates were locked at fixed rates against each other, effectively making them mere non-decimal subdivisions of the euro. The euro thus became the successor to the European Currency Unit (ECU). The notes and coins for the old currencies, however, continued to be used as legal tender until new euro notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002.

The changeover period during which the former currencies' notes and coins were exchanged for those of the euro lasted about two months, until 28 February 2002. The official date on which the national currencies ceased to be legal tender varied from member state to member state. The earliest date was in Germany, where the mark officially ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 2001, though the exchange period lasted for two months more. Even after the old currencies ceased to be legal tender, they continued to be accepted by national central banks for periods ranging from several years to forever (the latter in Austria, Germany, Ireland and Spain). The earliest coins to become non-convertible were the Portuguese escudos, which ceased to have monetary value after 31 December 2002, although banknotes remain exchangeable until 2022.

US economists on the euro, 1989–2002

A survey of US economists and their views on the EMU and euro from 1989–2002 found that the euro had gone much better than many expected. Academic economists, overall, were more skeptical than Federal Reserve economists who adopted a more pragmatic approach. The skepticism appears to have resulted from the strong influence of the optimum currency area theory; other reasons include similar skepticism of monetary unification as an evolutionary process as opposed to a political project that ignored fundamental elements of economics and a distrust of pegged currency exchange rates (as opposed to floating exchange rates) as a basis and an alternative to a single European currency.

Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC was one of a few American economists optimistic about the euro. His analysis focused on European political economy rather than technical considerations like the theory of optimum currency area seeing its implications as ambiguous enough to permit a basically political decision. In the same vein, Jeffry Frieden, Political Scientist at Harvard, points out that most US economists failed to systematically include political factors in their analysis. By focusing only on the pure economics of the matter, they led themselves to unrealistic predictions. Charles Goodhart of the London School of Economics echoes a similar sentiment.

Some believed that a strong central state, which a sound euro seemingly required, would impede European economic liberalization. On the other hand, some credit the euro's success to the European Central Bank's (ECB) ability to follow a stability-oriented monetary policy without undue influence from national interests. This would not be possible without a certain amount of centralized power and decent incentives. George Selgin suggests that the ECB had an incentive to keep inflation low out of a desire to secure for the euro a prominent position in the international monetary market.

Direct and indirect usage

Direct usage

The euro is the sole currency of 17 EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. These countries comprise the "eurozone", some 326 million people in total.

With all but two of the remaining EU members obliged to join, together with future members of the EU, the enlargement of the eurozone is set to continue further. Outside the EU, the euro is also the sole currency of Montenegro and Kosovo and several European micro states (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City) as well as in three overseas territories of EU states that are not themselves part of the EU (Mayotte, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Akrotiri and Dhekelia). Together this direct usage of the euro outside the EU affects over 3 million people.

It is also gaining increasing international usage as a trading currency, in Cuba, North Korea and Syria. There are also various currencies pegged to the euro (see below). In 2009 Zimbabwe abandoned its local currency and used major currencies instead, including the euro and the United States dollar.

Use as reserve currency

Since its introduction, the euro has been the second most widely held international reserve currency after the U.S. dollar. The share of the euro as a reserve currency has increased from 17.9% in 1999 to 26.5% in 2008, at the expense of the U.S. dollar (its share fell from 70.9% to 64.0% in the same timeframe) and the Yen (it fell from 6.4% to 3.3%). The euro inherited and built on the status of the second most important reserve currency from the Deutsche Mark. The euro remains underweight as a reserve currency in advanced economies while overweight in emerging and developing economies: according to the International Monetary Fund the total of euro held as a reserve in the world at the end of 2008 was equal to USD 1.1 trillion or €850 billion, with a share of 22% of all currency reserves in advanced economies, but a total of 31% of all currency reserves in emerging and developing economies.

The possibility of the euro becoming the first international reserve currency is now widely debated among economists. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave his opinion in September 2007 that it is "absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the US dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency." In contrast to Greenspan's 2007 assessment the euro's increase in the share of the worldwide currency reserve basket has slowed considerably since the year 2007 and since the beginning of the worldwide credit crunch related recession and sovereign debt crisis.

Currencies pegged to the euro

[[File:DOLLAR AND EURO IN THE WORLD.svg|thumb|right|300px|Worldwide use of the euro and the U.S. dollar: Note that the Belarusian ruble is pegged to the Euro, Russian ruble and US$ in a currency basket.]]

Outside the eurozone, a total of 23 countries and territories that do not belong to the EU have currencies that are directly pegged to the euro including 14 countries in mainland Africa (CFA franc and Moroccan dirham), two African island countries (Comorian franc and Cape Verdean escudo), three French Pacific territories (CFP franc) and another Balkan country, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark). On 28 July 2009, São Tomé and Príncipe signed an agreement with Portugal which will eventually tie its currency to the euro.

With the exception of Bosnia (which pegged its currency against the Deutsche Mark) and Cape Verde (formerly pegged to the Portuguese escudo) all of these non-EU countries had a currency peg to the French Franc before pegging their currencies to the euro. Pegging a country's currency to a major currency is regarded as a safety measure, especially for currencies of areas with weak economies, as the euro is seen as a stable currency, prevents runaway inflation and encourages foreign investment due to its stability.

Within the EU several currencies have a peg to the euro, in most instances as a precondition to joining the eurozone. The Bulgarian Lev was formerly pegged to the Deutsche Mark, other EU memberstates have a direct peg due to ERM II: the Danish krone, the Lithuanian litas and the Latvian lats.

In total, over 150 million people in Africa use a currency pegged to the euro, 25 million people outside the eurozone in Europe and another 500,000 people on Pacific islands.

Economics

Optimal currency area

In economics, an optimum currency area (or region) (OCA, or OCR) is a geographical region in which it would maximize economic efficiency to have the entire region share a single currency. There are two models, both proposed by Robert Mundell: the stationary expectations model and the international risk sharing model. Mundell himself advocates the international risk sharing model and thus concludes in favour of the euro. However, even before the creation of the single currency, there were concerns over diverging economies. Before the Late-2000s recession the chances of a state leaving the euro, or the chances that the whole zone would collapse, were considered extremely slim. However the Greek sovereign debt crisis led to former British foreign secretary Jack Straw claiming the Eurozone could not last in its current form.

Transaction costs and risks

The most obvious benefit of adopting a single currency is to remove the cost of exchanging currency, theoretically allowing businesses and individuals to consummate previously unprofitable trades. For consumers, banks in the eurozone must charge the same for intra-member cross-border transactions as purely domestic transactions for electronic payments (e.g., credit cards, debit cards and cash machine withdrawals).

The absence of distinct currencies also removes exchange rate risks. The risk of unanticipated exchange rate movement has always added an additional risk or uncertainty for companies or individuals that invest or trade outside their own currency zones. Companies that hedge against this risk will no longer need to shoulder this additional cost. This is particularly important for countries whose currencies had traditionally fluctuated a great deal, particularly the Mediterranean nations.

Financial markets on the continent are expected to be far more liquid and flexible than they were in the past. The reduction in cross-border transaction costs will allow larger banking firms to provide a wider array of banking services that can compete across and beyond the eurozone.

Price parity

Another effect of the common European currency is that differences in prices – in particular in price levels – should decrease because of the 'law of one price'. Differences in prices can trigger arbitrage, i.e. speculative trade in a commodity across borders purely to exploit the price differential. Therefore, prices on commonly traded goods are likely to converge, causing inflation in some regions and deflation in others during the transition. Some evidence of this has been observed in specific eurozone markets.

Macroeconomic stability

Low levels of inflation are the hallmark of stable and modern economies. Because a high level of inflation acts as a tax (seigniorage) and theoretically discourages investment, it is generally viewed as undesirable. In spite of the downside, many countries have been unable or unwilling to deal with serious inflationary pressures. Some countries have successfully contained them by establishing largely independent central banks. One such bank was the Bundesbank in Germany; as the European Central Bank is modelled on the Bundesbank, it is independent of the pressures of national governments and has a mandate to keep inflationary pressures low. Member countries that join the bank commit to lower inflation, hoping to enjoy the macroeconomic stability associated with low levels of expected inflation. The ECB (unlike the Federal Reserve in the United States of America) does not have a second objective to sustain growth and employment.

Many national and corporate bonds denominated in euro are significantly more liquid and have lower interest rates than was historically the case when denominated in legacy currencies. While increased liquidity may lower the nominal interest rate on the bond, denominating the bond in a currency with low levels of inflation arguably plays a much larger role. A credible commitment to low levels of inflation and a stable debt reduces the risk that the value of the debt will be eroded by higher levels of inflation or default in the future, allowing debt to be issued at a lower nominal interest rate.

Trade

The consensus from the studies of the effect of the introduction of the euro is that it has increased trade within the eurozone by 5% to 10%. On the lower bound, one study suggested an increase of 3%. A recent study estimates this effect to be between 9 and 14%. Nevertheless, a recent meta-analysis of all available studies suggests that the prevalence of positive estimates is caused by publication bias and that the underlying effect may be negligible.

Investment

Physical investment seems to have increased by 5% in the eurozone due to the introduction. Regarding foreign direct investment, a study found that the intra-eurozone FDI stocks have increased by about 20% during the first four years of the EMU. Concerning the effect on corporate investment, there is evidence that the introduction of the euro has resulted in an increase in investment rates and that it has made it easier for firms to access financing in Europe. The euro has most specifically stimulated investment in companies that come from countries that previously had weak currencies. A study found that the introduction of the euro accounts for 22% of the investment rate after 1998 in countries that previously had a weak currency.

Inflation

The introduction of the euro has led to extensive discussion about its possible effect on inflation. In the short term, there was a widespread impression in the population of the eurozone that the introduction of the euro had led to an increase in prices, but this impression was not confirmed by general indices of inflation and other studies. A study of this paradox found that this was due to an asymmetric effect of the introduction of the euro on prices: while it had no effect on most goods, it had an effect on cheap goods which have seen their price round up after the introduction of the euro. The study found that consumers based their beliefs on inflation of those cheap goods which are frequently purchased. It has also been suggested that the jump in small prices may be because prior to the introduction, retailers made fewer upward adjustments and waited for the introduction of the euro to do so.

Exchange rate risk

One of the advantages of the adoption of a common currency is the reduction of the risk associated with changes in currency exchange rates. It has been found that the introduction of the euro created "significant reductions in market risk exposures for nonfinancial firms both in and outside of Europe" These reductions in market risk "were concentrated in firms domiciled in the eurozone and in non-Euro firms with a high fraction of foreign sales or assets in Europe".

Financial integration

The introduction of the euro seems to have had a strong effect on European financial integration. According to a study on this question, it has "significantly reshaped the European financial system, especially with respect to the securities markets [...] However, the real and policy barriers to integration in the retail and corporate banking sectors remain significant, even if the wholesale end of banking has been largely integrated." Specifically, the euro has significantly decreased the cost of trade in bonds, equity, and banking assets within the eurozone. On a global level, there is evidence that the introduction of the euro has led to an integration in terms of investment in bond portfolios, with eurozone countries lending and borrowing more between each other than with other countries.

Effect on interest rates

The introduction of the euro has decreased the interest rates of most members countries, in particular those with a weak currency. As a consequence the market value of firms from countries which previously had a weak currency has very significantly increased. The countries whose interest rates fell most as a result of the euro are Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. The effect of such low interest rates made it easier for banks within the countries in which interest rates fell and the countries themselves to borrow significant amounts (above the 3% of GDP budget deficit imposed on the eurozone initially) and increase their public deficit and levels of privately held consumer debt. Following the Late-2000s financial crisis, governments in these countries found it necessary to bail out or nationalise their privately held banks in order to prevent systemic failure of the banking system. This further increased the already high levels of public debt to a level the markets began to consider unsustainable, via increasing government bond interest rates, producing the ongoing 2010/11European sovereign debt crisis.

Price convergence

The evidence on the convergence of prices in the eurozone with the introduction of the euro is mixed. Several studies failed to find any evidence of convergence following the introduction of the euro after a phase of convergence in the early 1990s. Other studies have found evidence of price convergence, in particular for cars. A possible reason for the divergence between the different studies is that the processes of convergence may not have been linear, slowing down substantially between 2000 and 2003, and resurfacing after 2003 as suggested by a recent study (2009).

Tourism

A study suggests that the introduction of the euro has had a positive effect on the amount of tourist travel within the EMU, with an increase of 6.5%.

European sovereign debt crisis

From late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed among fiscally conservative investors concerning some European states, with the situation becoming particularly tense in early 2010. This included euro zone members Greece, Ireland and Portugal and also some EU countries outside the area. Iceland, the country which experienced the largest crisis in 2008 when its entire international banking system collapsed has emerged less affected by the sovereign debt crisis as the government was unable to bail the banks out. In the EU, especially in countries where sovereign debts have increased sharply due to bank bailouts, a crisis of confidence has emerged with the widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on credit default swaps between these countries and other EU members, most importantly Germany. To be included in the eurozone, the countries had to fulfill certain convergence criteria, but the meaningfulness of such criteria were diminished by the fact there is no mechanism to ensure the members stick to these criteria.

Exchange rates

Flexible exchange rates

The ECB targets interest rates rather than exchange rates and in general does not intervene on the foreign exchange rate markets, because of the implications of the Mundell-Fleming model which implies a central bank cannot maintain interest rate and exchange rate targets simultaneously, unless there are capital controls, because increasing the money supply results in a depreciation of the currency. In the years following the Single European Act, the EU has liberalised its capital markets, and as the ECB has chosen monetary autonomy, the exchange rate regime of the euro is flexible, or floating.

Against other major currencies

The Euro is one of the major reserve currencies together with the US dollar, Japanese yen, Pound sterling and Swiss franc. After its introduction on 4 January 1999 its exchange rate against the other major currencies fell reaching its lowest exchange rates in 2000 (25 Oct vs the US Dollar, 26 Oct vs Japanese Yen, 3 May vs Pound Sterling). Afterwards it regained and its exchange rate reached its historical highest point in 2008 (15 July vs US Dollar, 23 July vs Japanese Yen, 29 Dec vs Pound Sterling). With the advent of the current global financial crisis the Euro initially fell, only to regain later - below its maximum value but well above its lowest value.

Current and historical exchange rates against 29 other currencies (European Central Bank)

Current dollar/euro exchange rates (BBC)

Historical exchange rate from 1971 until now

Linguistic issues

The formal titles of the currency are ''euro'' for the major unit and ''cent'' for the minor (one hundredth) unit and for official use in most eurozone languages; according to the ECB, all languages should use the same spelling for the nominative singular. This may contradict normal rules for word formation in some languages; e.g., those where there is no ''eu'' diphthong. Bulgaria has negotiated an exception; ''euro'' in the Cyrillic alphabet is spelled as eвро (''evro'') and not eуро (''euro'') in all official documents. The European Commission's Directorate-General for Translation states clearly that the plural forms ''euros'' and ''cents'' should be used in English.

Alloys

The euro 1 and 2 coins are two-toned. The "gold" is an alloy, 75% copper, 20% zinc and 5% nickel. The "silver" is cupronickel, 75% copper, 25% nickel. The 10, 20 and 50-cent coins are a proprietary alloy known as "Nordic gold", consisting of 89% copper, 5% aluminium, 5% zinc and 1% tin. The 1, 2 and 5-cent coins are copper-coated steel fourrées.

No constituent metal is toxic to human beings. The copper alloys make the coinage antimicrobial. The nickel alloy could cause contact dermatitis in sensitive people, but this condition could only be a problem if a Euro-1 or 2 is worn next to the skin for an extended period, perhaps as jewelry. The alloys are hypoallergenic.

See also

Currency union

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

;Official websites

The euro – Europa

European Central Bank

* Security features

* Exchange rates

;Other

The Euro Information Site – ibiblio

The symbolic power of the euro – Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung

Historical Documentation of EMU and the euro

Euro in crisis dossier by Radio France Internationale in English June 2010

Euro against other major currencies from 1971

Category:1999 in economics Category:Economy of the European Union Category:Karlspreis recipients Category:Monetary unions Category:Symbols of the European Union Category:Warrants issued in Hong Kong Stock Exchange

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Coordinates	41°19′26″N75°47′20″N
Name	Nigel Farage
Honorific-suffix	MEP
Office	Europe of Freedom and Democracy President
Term start	1 July 2009 (de facto)
Predecessor	(post established)
Office	Leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party
Term start	5 November 2010
Predecessor	Jeffrey Titford
Term start1	27 September 2006
Term end1	27 November 2009
Predecessor1	Roger Knapman
Successor1	Lord Pearson of Rannoch
Constituency mp2	South East England
Parliament2	European
Term start2	15 July 1999
Birth date	April 03, 1964
Birth place	Kent, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Party	UK Independence Party
Spouse	Gráinne Hayes (1988-?, divorced)Kirsten Mehr (1999-present)
Children	4
Alma mater	Dulwich College
Website	Nigel Farage MEP
Footnotes	}}

Nigel Paul Farage (; ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and is the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), a position he previously held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a current Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group.

Farage was a founding member of the UKIP, having left the Conservative Party in 1992 after they signed the Maastricht Treaty. Having unsuccessfully campaigned in European and Westminster parliamentary elections for UKIP since 1994, he gained a seat as an MEP for South East England in the 1999 European Parliament Election — the first year the regional list system was used — and was re-elected in 2004 and 2009. Farage describes himself as a libertarian and rejects the notion that he is a conservative.

In September 2006, Farage became the UKIP Leader and led the party through the 2009 European Parliament Election in which it received the second highest share of the popular vote, defeating Labour and the Liberal Democrats with over two million votes. However he stepped down in November 2009 to concentrate on contesting the Speaker John Bercow's seat of Buckingham in the 2010 general election.

At the 2010 General Election, Farage failed to unseat John Bercow and received only the third highest share of the vote in the constituency. Shortly after the polls opened on 6 May 2010, Nigel Farage was injured in an aircraft crash in Northamptonshire. The two-seated PZL-104 Wilga 35A had been towing a pro-UKIP banner when it flipped over and crashed shortly after takeoff. Both Farage and the pilot were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries.

In November 2010, Farage successfully stood in the 2010 UKIP leadership contest, following the resignation of its leader, Lord Pearson of Rannoch. Farage was also ranked 41st (out of 100) in ''The Daily Telegraph'''s Top 100 most influential right-wingers poll in October 2009, citing his media savvy and his success with UKIP in the European Elections. Farage was ranked 58th in the 2010 list compiled by Iain Dale and Brian Brivati for the Daily Telegraph.

Background

Farage was educated at Dulwich College before joining a commodity brokerage firm in London. He ran his own brokerage business from the early 1990s until 2002. In his early 20s Farage was diagnosed with testicular cancer but made a full recovery.

Farage has been married twice. He married Gráinne Hayes in 1988, with whom he had two children: Samuel (1989) and Thomas (1991). In 1999 he married Kirsten Mehr, a German national, by whom he has two more children, Victoria (born 2000) and Isabelle (born 2005).

Farage has also penned his own memoirs, entitled "Fighting Bull." It outlines the founding of UKIP and his personal and political life so far.

Political career

Conservative Party

Active in the Conservative Party from his school days, Farage left the party in 1992 when John Major's government signed the Treaty on European Union at Maastricht.

UKIP and the European Parliament

Farage became a founding member of UKIP in 1993.

He was elected to the European Parliament in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and 2009. Farage is presently the leader of the thirteen-member UKIP contingent in the European Parliament, and co-leader of the multinational eurosceptic group, Europe of Freedom and Democracy.

UKIP party leadership

On 12 September 2006, Farage was elected leader of UKIP with 45% of the vote, 20% ahead of his nearest rival. He pledged to bring discipline to the party and to maximise UKIP's representation in local, parliamentary and other elections. In a PM programme interview on BBC Radio 4 that day he pledged to end the public perception of UKIP as a single-issue party and to work with allied politicians in the Better Off Out campaign, committing himself not to stand against the MPs who have signed up to that campaign (ten in all at this moment).

At his maiden speech to the UKIP conference on 8 October 2006, he told delegates that the party was "at the centre-ground of British public opinion" and the "real voice of opposition". Farage said: "We've got three social democratic parties in Britain — Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative are virtually indistinguishable from each other on nearly all the main issues" and "you can't put a cigarette paper between them and that is why there are nine million people who don't vote now in general elections that did back in 1992."

At 10pm on 19 October 2006, Farage took part in a three-hour live interview and phone-in with James Whale on national radio station talkSPORT. Four days later, Whale announced on his show his intention to stand as UKIP's candidate in the 2008 London Mayoral Election. Farage said that Whale "not only has guts, but an understanding of what real people think". However Whale later decided not to stand and UKIP was represented by Gerard Batten. He stood again for UKIP leadership in 2010 after his successor Lord Pearson stood down. On the 5th November 2010 it was announced Farage had won the leadership contest.

Westminster elections

Farage had unsuccessfully contested UK parliamentary elections for UKIP five times, both before and after his election as an MEP in 1999. Under the 2002 European Union decision to forbid MEPs from holding a dual mandate, if he was ever elected to the House of Commons, he would have to resign his seat as an MEP.

When he contested the Bromley & Chislehurst constituency in a May 2006 by-election, organised after the sitting MP representing it, eurosceptic Conservative Eric Forth, died, Farage came third, winning 8% of the vote, beating the Labour Party candidate. This was the second-best by-election result recorded by UKIP out of 25 results, and the first time since the Liverpool Walton by-election in 1991 that a party in government had been pushed into fourth place in a parliamentary by-election on mainland Britain.

2010 UK General election

On 4 September 2009 Farage resigned as leader of UKIP to concentrate on his campaign to become Member of Parliament for Buckingham at Westminster in the 2010 general election. He later told Times journalist Camilla Long that UKIP internal fights took up too much time.

He stood against Buckingham MP John Bercow, the newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons, despite a convention that the speaker, as a political neutral, is not normally challenged in his or her bid for re-election by any of the major parties.

On 6 May, on the morning the polls opened in the election, just before eight o'clock Farage was involved in a light aircraft crash, suffering injuries described as non-life-threatening. A spokesperson told the BBC that "it was unlikely Mr Farage would be discharged from hospital today [6 May] Although his injuries were originally described as minor, his sternum and ribs were broken, and his lung punctured. The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) report said that the aeroplane was towing a banner, which caught in the tailplane, forcing the nose down.

Farage came third with 8,401 votes. Bercow was re-elected, and John Stevens, a former Conservative MEP (Defected to Lib-Dems), who campaigned with "Flipper the Dolphin" (a reference to MPs flipping second homes) came second with 10,331.

On 1 December 2010, the pilot of the aircraft involved in the accident was charged with threatening to kill Farage. He was also charged with threatening to kill an AAIB official involved in the investigation into the accident. In April 2011, Justin Adams was found guilty of making death threats. The judge said the defendant was "clearly extremely disturbed" at the time the offences happened adding "He is a man who does need help. If I can find a way of giving him help I will."

Alternative Vote referendum, May 2011

Farage declared himself personally in favour of the Alternative Vote system of May 2011, saying first-past-the-post is a "nightmare" for UKIP. However, the party's stance has to be decided by its central policy making committee.

Controversies and whistleblowing

Copyright infringement

In 1999 the BBC spent four months filming a documentary about his European elections campaign but didn't show it. Farage, then head of UKIP's South East office, asked for a video and got friends to make illegal copies which were sold for £5 through the UKIP magazine. Surrey Trading Standards investigated and Farage has admitted the offence.

Expenses disclosure

In May 2009, ''The Guardian'' reported that Farage had said in a speech to the Foreign Press Association that over ten years as a member of the European Parliament he received and spent nearly £2 million of taxpayers' money in expenses and allowances, on top of his £64,000 a year salary.

The former Europe Minister, Denis MacShane, said that this showed that Farage was "happy to line his pockets with gold". Farage called this a "misrepresentation", pointing out that the money had been used to promote UKIP's message, not salary, but he welcomed the focus on the issue of MEP expenses, claiming that "[o]ver a five year term each and every one of Britain's 78 MEPs gets about £1 million. It is used to employ administrative staff, run their offices and to travel back and forth between their home, Brussels and Strasbourg." He also pointed out the money spent on the YES campaign in Ireland by the European Commission was "something around 440 million", making the NO campaign's figure insignificant in comparison.

Jacques Barrot

On 18 November 2004, Farage announced in the European Parliament that Jacques Barrot, the French Commissioner designate, had been barred from elected office in France for 2 years, after being convicted in 2000 of embezzling £2 million from government funds and diverting it into the coffers of his party. He claimed that French President Jacques Chirac had granted Barrot amnesty. Although initial BBC reports claimed that, under French law, it was illegal even to mention the conviction, the prohibition in question only applies to French officials in the course of their duties. The president of the Parliament, Josep Borrell, enjoined him to retract his comments under threat of "legal consequences".However, the following day it was confirmed that Barrot had received an 8 month suspended jail sentence in the case, and that this had been quickly expunged by the amnesty decided by Chirac and his parliamentary majority. The Commission's president, Jose Manuel Barroso admitted that he had not known of Barrot's criminal record when appointing him as a Commission vice-president. The Socialist and Liberal groups in the European Parliament then joined UKIP in demanding the sacking of Barrot for failing to disclose the conviction during his confirmation hearings.

José Manuel Barroso

During the spring of 2005, Farage requested that the European Commission disclose where the individual Commissioners had spent their holidays. The Commission did not provide the information requested, on the basis that the Commissioners had a right of privacy. The German newspaper ''Die Welt'' reported that the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso had spent a week on the yacht of the Greek shipping billionaire Spiro Latsis. It emerged soon afterwards that this had occurred a month before the Commission under Barroso's predecessor Romano Prodi approved 10.3 million euro of Greek state aid for Latsis' shipping company. It also became known that Peter Mandelson, then a member of the Commission, had accepted a trip to Jamaica from an unrevealed source.

Farage persuaded around 75 MEPs from across the political divide to back a motion of no confidence in Barroso, which would be sufficient to compel Barroso to appear before the European Parliament to be questioned on the issue. The motion was successfully tabled on 12 May 2005, and Barroso appeared before Parliament at a debate on 26 May 2005. The motion was heavily defeated. A Conservative MEP, Roger Helmer, was expelled from his group, the European People's Party - European Democrats (EPP-ED) in the middle of the debate by that group's leader Hans-Gert Poettering as a result of his support for Farage's motion.

Joseph Daul

In January 2007, the French farmers' leader Joseph Daul was elected the new leader of the European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP-ED), the European Parliamentary grouping which then included the British Conservatives. The UK Independence Party almost immediately revealed that Daul had been under judicial investigation in France since 2004 as part of an inquiry into the alleged misuse of public funds worth €16 million (£10.6 million) by French farming unions." It was not suggested that Daul had personally benefited, but was accused of "complicity and concealment of the abuse of public funds." Daul accused Farage of publicising the investigation for political reasons and threatened to sue Farage, but did not do so though the court dropped all charges against him.

Prince Charles

Prince Charles gave a speech to the European Parliament on 14 February 2008, in which he called for EU leadership in the war against climate change. During the standing ovation that followed, Farage was the only MEP to remain seated and went on to describe the Prince's advisers as "naïve and foolish at best." Farage continued: "How can somebody like Prince Charles be allowed to come to the European Parliament at this time to announce he thinks it should have more powers? It would have been better for the country he wants to rule one day if he had stayed home and tried to persuade Gordon Brown to give the people the promised referendum [on the Treaty of Lisbon]." The leader of the UK Labour Party's MEPs, Gary Titley, accused Farage of anti-Royalism. Titley said: "I was embarrassed and disgusted when the Leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage, remained firmly seated during the lengthy standing ovation Prince Charles received. I had not realised Mr Farage's blind adherence to right wing politics involved disloyalty and discourtesy to the Royal Family. He should be thoroughly ashamed of himself and should apologise to the British people he represents."

Herman Van Rompuy

After the speech of Herman Van Rompuy on 24 February 2010 in the European parliament, Farage—to protests from other MEPs—addressed the first long-term President of the European Council saying that he has the "charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of low grade bank clerk", also asserting that Van Rompuy's "intention is to be the quiet assassin of European democracy and of European nation states." He also referred to Belgium as a "non-country", and that "nobody in Europe" knows who Van Rompuy is, nor how he was elected. Van Rompuy commented afterwards, "There was one contribution that I can only hold in contempt, but I'm not going to comment further." After refusing to apologise for behaviour that was, in the words of the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, "inappropriate, unparliamentary and insulting to the dignity of the House", Farage was reprimanded and had his right to ten days' allowance (expenses) rescinded. The President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, said after his meeting with Farage:- 'I defend absolutely Mr Farage's right to disagree about the policy or institutions of the Union, but not to personally insult our guests in the European Parliament or the country from which they may come. [. . .] I myself fought for free speech as the absolute cornerstone of a democratic society. But with freedom comes responsibility - in this case, to respect the dignity of others and of our institutions. I am disappointed by Mr Farage's behaviour, which sits ill with the great parliamentary tradition of his own country. I cannot accept this sort of behaviour in the European Parliament. I invited him to apologise, but he declined to do so. I have therefore - as an expression of the seriousness of the matter - rescinded his right to ten days' daily allowance as a Member'. Questioned by Camilla Long in the article entitled "brimming over with bile and booze" in which she appeared to make light over his fight against cancer, Farage declared it wasn't abusive, it was right.

Views on the Euro

From taking office as a UKIP MEP in 1999 Farage has often voiced opposition to the "Euro project". His argument is that "a one size fits all interest rate" can not work for countries with structually different economies, often using the example of Greece and Germany to emphasise contrast. He predicted the need for 'bail outs' before European Commission and European Central Bank officials admit that these are necessary. Farage predicted that Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain would all require such assistance. To date Spain is the only predicted country that have not asked for a 'bail out' but Farage warns: "You can ignore the markets if you want to but in time the markets will not ignore you". Farage also reinforces Germany's argument that Italy "should never have joined the Euro" but has not explicitly predicted the need for similar assistance. Farage predicts that if the situation continues it will lead to violence due to the peoples inability to "determine their own futures through the ballot box" as it will become the only "logical" tool to enable them to escape from their "economic prison" i.e. The Eurozone. He proclaims "I can only hope and pray that the euro project is destroyed by the markets before that really happens." Farage strongly opposes the use of 'bail outs' and claims "buying your own debt with tax payers money" will not solve the problem and that "if we do the next debt crisis won't be a country" "it will be the European Central Bank its self".

Electoral performance

Nigel Farage has contested several elections under the United Kingdom Independence Party banner:

Itchen, Test and Avon, European Parliament Election 1994 - 12,423 votes, representing 5.2% of total votes cast

Eastleigh by-election, 1994 - 952, 1.4%

Salisbury, 1997 general election - 3,332, 5.7%

European Parliament election, 1999 - elected member for South East England from party list

Bexhill and Battle, 2001 general election - 3,474, 7.8%

European Parliament election, 2004 - elected member for South East England from party list

South Thanet, 2005 general election - 2,079, 5.0%

Bromley and Chislehurst by-election, 2006 - 2,307, 8.0%

European Parliament election, 2009 - elected member for South East England from party list.

Buckingham, 2010 general election - 8,410, 17.4%

Footnotes

References

2002 Amnesty law

Penal Code, articles L133-9, L133-10, L133-11

External links

UKIP profile

Profile at European Parliament website

Official website of the UK Independence Party in the European Parliament

Political group in the European Parliament

Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:United Kingdom Independence Party politicians Category:Members of the European Parliament for English constituencies Category:Critics of the European Union Category:People from Farnborough, London Category:Old Alleynians Category:Leaders of the United Kingdom Independence Party Category:British libertarians Category:UK Independence Party MEPs Category:MEPs for the United Kingdom 1999–2004 Category:MEPs for the United Kingdom 2004–2009 Category:MEPs for the United Kingdom 2009–2014

br:Nigel Farage cs:Nigel Farage cy:Nigel Farage de:Nigel Farage et:Nigel Farage es:Nigel Farage fr:Nigel Farage it:Nigel Farage nl:Nigel Farage pl:Nigel Farage ro:Nigel Farage simple:Nigel Farage fi:Nigel Farage sv:Nigel Farage

Coordinates	41°19′26″N75°47′20″N
name	Ten Years After
background	group_or_band
origin	Nottingham, England
genre	Blues-rock, British blues, rock and roll, hard rock, jazz rock
years active	1966–197419831988–present
label	Polygram, Chrysalis, EMI, CBS
website	http://tenyearsafter.com/
current members	Leo LyonsChick ChurchillRic LeeJoe Gooch
past members	Alvin Lee }}

Ten Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. and are best known for their tracks "I'm Going Home", "Hear Me Calling", "I'd Love To Change the World" and "Love Like a Man".

History

After several years of local success in the Nottingham/Mansfield area as a band known since 1962 as The Jaybirds (its core was formed in late 1960 as Ivan Jay and the Jaycats), and later as Ivan Jay and the Jaymen, Ten Years After was founded by Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons. Ivan Jay sang lead vocals from late 1960 to 1962 and was joined by Ric Lee in August 1965, replacing drummer Dave Quickmire, who had replaced Pete Evans in 1962. In 1966 The Jaybirds moved to London, where Chick Churchill joined the group. That November the quartet signed a manager, Chris Wright, and decided to change its name to Blues Trip, Blues Yard (under which they played a show at the Marquee Club supporting the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band), and finally in November 1966, to Ten Years After, (in honor of Elvis Presley, an idol of Lee's whose momentous year in rock - 1956, helps to better explain the band's name). The group became the first act booked by the soon-to-be Chrysalis Agency. It secured a residency at the Marquee, and received an invitation to play at the Windsor Jazz Festival in 1967. That performance led to a contract with Deram, a subsidiary of Decca – the first band so signed without a hit single. In October, its 1967 self-titled debut album was released.

In 1968 after touring Scandinavia and the United States, Ten Years After released its second album, the live ''Undead'', which brought the noteworthy song "I'm Going Home". This was followed in February 1969 by the studio issue ''Stonedhenge'', a British hit, that included another well-known track, "Hear Me Calling" (it was released also as a single, and covered in 1972 by the British glam rock rising stars, Slade). In July 1969 the group appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival, in the first event to which rock bands were invited. In August, the band performed a breakthrough American appearance at Woodstock; their rendition of "I'm Going Home" featuring Alvin Lee as lead singer, was featured in both the subsequent film and soundtrack album and catapulted them to star status.

During 1970, Ten Years After released "Love Like a Man", the group's only hit in the UK Singles Chart. This song was on the band's fifth album, ''Cricklewood Green''. The name of the album comes from a friend of the group who lived in Cricklewood, London. He grew a sort of plant which was said to have hallucinogenic effects. The band did not know the name of this plant, so the members called their album ''Cricklewood Green''. It was the first record to be issued with a different playing speed on each side – one a three-minute edit at 45rpm, the other, a nearly eight-minute live version at 33rpm. In August 1970, Ten Years After played the Strawberry Fields Festival near Toronto, and the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.

In 1971 the band switched labels to Columbia Records and released the hit album ''A Space in Time,'' which marked a move toward more commercial material. It featured the group's biggest hit, "I'd Love to Change the World". In late 1972 the group issued their second Columbia album ''Rock & Roll Music to the World'' and in 1973 the live double album ''Ten Years After Recorded Live''. The band subsequently broke up after their final 1974 Columbia album ''Positive Vibrations''. The members reunited in 1983 to play the Reading Festival, and this performance was later released on CD as ''The Friday Rock Show Sessions - Live At Reading '83' ''. In 1988 the members reunited for a few concerts and recorded the album ''About Time'' (1989). In 1994, they participated in the Eurowoodstock festival in Budapest.

Alvin Lee has since then mostly played and recorded under his own name. In 2003, the other band members replaced him with Joe Gooch, and recorded the album, ''Now''. Material from the following tour was used for the 2005 double album, ''Roadworks''. Ric Lee is currently in a band called The Breakers, along with Ian Ellis (ex-Clouds).

Band members

Alvin Lee: guitar, vocals, harp; born Graham Barnes, 19 December 1944, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.

Leo Lyons: bass; born David William Lyons, 30 November 1943, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

Chick Churchill: keyboards; born Michael George Churchill, 2 January 1946, Ilkeston, Derbyshire.

Ric Lee: drums; born Richard Lee, 20 October 1945, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

Joe Gooch: guitar, vocals; born 3 May 1977, Highbury, North London (joined in 2003).

Discography

Studio and live albums

{| |- | width=300px|''Ten Years After'' ||Deram, 1967|| |- | width=300px|''Undead'' (live album) ||Deram, 1968|| |- | width=300px|''BBC Sessions'' ||1967–1968|| |- | width=300px|''Stonedhenge'' ||Deram, 1969|| |- | width=300px|''Ssssh'' ||Deram, 1969|| |- | width=300px|''Cricklewood Green'' ||Deram, 1970|| |- | width=300px|''Watt'' ||Deram, 1970|| |- | width=300px|''A Space in Time'' ||Columbia, 1971|| |- | width=300px|''Rock & Roll Music to the World'' ||Columbia, 1972|| |- | width=300px|''Recorded Live'' (double live album) ||Columbia, 1973|| |- | width=300px|''Positive Vibrations'' ||Columbia, 1974|| |- | width=300px|''Rocket Fuel'' ||RSO, 1978|| by Alvin Lee & Ten Years Later |- | width=300px|''Ride On'' ||RSO, 1979|| by Alvin Lee & Ten Years Later |- | width=300px|''About Time'' ||Chrysalis, 1989|| |- | width=300px|''Live at the Fillmore East 1970'' (double live album) ||2001|| |- | width=300px|''One Night Jammed (Live)'' ||2003|| |- | width=300px|''Now'' ||2004|| |- | width=300px|''Roadworks'' (double live album) ||2005|| |- | width=300px|''Evolution'' ||2008|| |- | width=300px|''Live at Fiesta City'' (live DVD) ||2009|| |}

Compilations

''Double Deluxe'' (1970)

''Ten Years After'' (1971)

''Alvin Lee and Company'' (Deram, 1972)

''Goin' Home'' (Deram, 1975)

''Classic Performances of'' (Columbia, 1976)

''London Collector – Greatest Hits'' (London, 1977)

''Profile'' (1979)

''Ten Years After'' (1980)

''Timewarps'' (1983)

''The Collection'' (1985)

''At Their Peak'' (1987)

''Universal'' (1987) (Chrysalis Records)

''Portfolio: A History'' (1988)

''The Collection'' (1991)

''Essential'' (1991)

''Pure Blues'' (1995)

''I'm Going Home'' (1996)

''Premium Gold Collection'' (1998)

''The Best of'' (2000)

''Very Best Ten Years After Album Ever'' (2001)

''Ten Years After Anthology'' (2002)

Bibliography

''The New Musical Express Book of Rock'', Star Books, 1975. ISBN 0 352 300744.

''Alvin Lee and Ten Years After–Visual History'' - Herb Staehr, Free Street Press,

References

External links

Ten Years After Now — official website of the new band

Interview with Alvin Lee

Alvin Lee official website

Chrome Oxide information

Category:Blues rock groups Category:Columbia Records artists Category:British blues music groups Category:Decca Records artists Category:English hard rock musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1966 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1974 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 1988

ca:Ten Years After cs:Ten Years After de:Ten Years After es:Ten Years After fr:Ten Years After it:Ten Years After he:Ten Years After hu:Ten Years After nl:Ten Years After ja:テン・イヤーズ・アフター pl:Ten Years After pt:Ten Years After ru:Ten Years After fi:Ten Years After sv:Ten Years After uk:Ten Years After

Coordinates	41°19′26″N75°47′20″N
name	Eddie Hobbs
birth date	11 October 1962
birth place	Cork, Ireland
nationality	Irish
occupation	Celebrity Financial Advisor
footnotes	}}

Eddie Hobbs (born 11 October 1962) is an Irish celebrity Financial Advisor.

Early career

Hobbs worked for Zurich Life 1979 to 1991 and left his position as Marketing Manager to set up a fee-based financial planning company TIPS. In March 1993 Hobbs published a landmark report "Endowment Mortgages The Hometruth" which collapsed sales of endowment homeloans in Ireland by June 1993 after the banking and life insurance industry failed to deal with his critique. In 1995 Hobbs was made a non-executive director in the financial services firm Taylor Asset Management but resigned from it and TIPS in Jan 1996. In May 1996 after a two month investigation, Hobbs lodged a complaint with the Irish regulator about the handling of two client files by Tony Taylor CEO of the Taylor Group. Tony Taylor fled Ireland and was located living under an alias in Eastbourne UK in 1999 by an investigator reporting to Hobbs. Taylor was extradicted and pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud, forgery and destruction of documents for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. Hobbs himself was never implicated in any issues relating to company affairs and in 2007 he was exonerated by the Irish High Court and praised by the presiding judge for showing "efficiency and determination and for not standing idly" when he pursued Taylor's activities from 1995 to 1996.

In 1996 he submitted a complaint to The Competition Authority alleging that the Government supported Irish Insurance Federation Remuneration Agreement was offensive to competition law since 1991,had engendered a culture of consensus decision making, restricted competition and prevented costs and commission disclosure to consumers. The complaint was upheld in 1998 forcing the Government to introduce statutory commission and charges disclosure. The Life industry was forced to reissue its product range to comply with the Insurance Act 2000. Hobbs acted in a voluntary capacity as a director and Finance spokesperson for The Consumers association of Ireland from 1993 to 2006

Television career

He presented the RTÉ show ''Rip-Off Republic'' in 2005, a show preoccupied with artificially high development land prices, the perceived high personal taxes, corporate margins and cartels/monopolies in Ireland. Prior to this, Hobbs presented the television show ''Show Me the Money'', where he helped various people, from farmers to hairdressers, to improve their finances and which won two IFTA TV awards. He has also presented a three-part programme, ''30 Things to do with your SSIA'', in which he gives a humorous list of ideas for spending the money held in a Special Savings Incentive Account. Notably he advised people against investing their SSIAs, along with borrowed bank money, in Irish Investment Property (RIPS and explained investment in property PLC's as a better choice. He outlined Minsky's bubble theory and suggested the Irish market was at the latter steps of it. [1]. In ''Show Me the Money'' he repeatedly advised since 2004 that property prices in Ireland are only going one way - down - and strongly advised against residential investment property purchase in Ireland. In 2007 property prices started to reverse. An outspoken populist critic of the vested interests in Ireland, especially the producer groups who "control the country", Hobbs has often repeated that "There's one game in town: development." He speaks out against Jumbo mortgages and picks apart the arguments presented by the vested interests who wish to maintain the status quo, including public sector unions whom he describes as Ireland's strongest cartel.

During the run up to the 2007 Irish general election, Eddie and his colleague Matt Cooper presented a political programme called Polls Apart on Irish TV station TV3, in which they interview the main Irish Political Parties' leaders about what they intend to do after the election, if they were to be deemed elected into government.

Other Career Information

In 2004 he released Short Hands Long Pockets his first book as a fund raiser for The Jack & Jill Children's Foundation for whom he acts as patron. His second book LOOT! was published in 2006. Each book was a best seller. In March 2009, Eddie Hobbs released his third book, Debt Busters by Currach Press. In the book he explains clearly and practically how to manage your spending and the money you owe - even if you feel overwhelmed by your level of indebtedness - and come out the other side in leaner and fitter financial shape. From 2007 to 2010 he acted an editorial director of monthly magazine You & Your Money owned and published by Ashville Publications.He writes two weekly columns for The Daily Star Ireland's largest selling red top. In October 2009 he launched ''Energise - How to Survive and Prosper in the Coming Age of Scarcity, High Inflation and Peak Oil'' as an E-Book from his website, all profits from which go to the Irish children's charity, The Jack & Jill Foundation. He is a frequent commentator and writer on social, economic and financial affairs on Irish TV, radio and newspapers and co-presents The Consumer Show on RTE TV.

==

Awards/Posts Held

In 2005 Eddie Hobbs was awarded Honorary Patronage of TCD's University Philosophical Society. He has acted as Patron to The Jack & Jill Children's Foundation Charity since 2005 and was appointed by the Irish Government as a Director of the National Consumer Agency in 2007 having served on its interim board since 2005. He resigned in 2009.

References

External links

Eddie Hobbs' Website

Ireland Business News

Debt Busters by Eddie Hobbs

Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:Irish television personalities Category:People from County Cork

Coordinates	41°19′26″N75°47′20″N
name	Godfrey Bloom
honorific-suffix	MEP
constituency mp	Yorkshire and the Humber, UK
parliament	European
successor	Incumbent
term start	1 May 2004
birth date	November 22, 1949
birth place	London, England
nationality	British
party	UKIP
footnotes	}}

Godfrey Bloom (born 22 November 1949 in London) is a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). He was first elected in 2004, and re-elected in 2009.

Before becoming an MEP, Bloom worked as a financial economist.

Godfrey Bloom is the president of the European Alliance for Freedom, a eurosceptic pan-European political party.

Career as an MEP

In 2004, Bloom's election to the Yorkshire and the Humber seat was the UKIP's first seat in the region in the European elections.

Comments on the counter-productive nature of women's rights

A few weeks after his appointment to the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality on 20 July 2004, Bloom told an interview in Strasbourg that, "No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age. That isn't politically correct, is it, but it's a fact of life. The more women's rights you have, it's actually a bar to their employment." Around the same time, he was reported as commenting that: "I just don't think [women] clean behind the fridge enough," and continued on saying "I am here to represent Yorkshire women who always have dinner on the table when you get home."

Bloom told BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' that his comments were "said for fun" to illustrate a more serious point, that equal-rights legislation was in fact putting women out of work. Bloom claimed that MEPs had "little or no business experience" and did not understand the consequences of their actions.

Comments on climate change

Bloom is a prominent non-believer of anthropogenic global warming. He stated in 2009: "As far as I am concerned man-made global warming is nothing more than a hypothesis that hasn't got any basis in fact. Every day more scientists are modifying their initial views." He claims that the consensus opinion of scientists about climate change is a "Scam Scam Scam!" of "climate crooks".

Comments on the Rainbow Warrior bombing

Bloom was filmed at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen congratulating the French for bombing the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship, in 1985. Bloom's comment prompted outrage from the environmental group, which accused him of "celebrating" the killing of Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira in the bombing in Auckland. Bloom was filmed posing in front of the present Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior II, during the climate summit at the Copenhagen harbour. In the footage, he said: "Here we have one of the most truly fascist boats since 1945, Well done the French for sinking (it)." The video appeared to have been uploaded to Bloom's YouTube channel Goddersvision on December 16 during the last days of the summit, but was later taken down.

Nazi jibe-incident

On November 24, 2010 Bloom was ejected from the European Parliament after directing a Nazi slogan at a German MEP Martin Schulz as the latter was speaking during a debate on the economic crisis in Ireland. Godfrey Bloom interrupted Schulz and said "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" - one people, one empire, one leader. This was reference to the European Union increasing its powers in the midst of the Euro crisis, making a comparison to that of Nazi Germany.

He was then removed by the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, who told Bloom: "As you know, most of the members of the chamber cannot accept your behaviour. I will therefore ask you to leave the chamber at this point.".

This decision generated heavy protest from Barry Madlener, a representative of the Dutch Freedom Party, who noted that Schulz had himself recently referred to fellow MEP Daniël van der Stoep (also a member of the Dutch Freedom Party) as being ´a fascist´ for which Schulz himself was not removed. On the same day, Bloom published the following statement on his web page: "'My father spent 5 years of his youth fighting the ideals of the fascist Schultz. I need make no apologies on behalf of my late father or myself for telling the truth.'"

Notes

External links

Official website

Profile on European Parliament website

YouTube video on Nazi slur incident in European Parliament

YouTube video showing Godfrey Bloom being escorted out of the plenary meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg

Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:United Kingdom Independence Party politicians Category:Members of the European Parliament for English constituencies Category:UK Independence Party MEPs Category:MEPs for the United Kingdom 2004–2009 Category:MEPs for the United Kingdom 2009–2014 Category:Critics of the European Union

de:Godfrey Bloom no:Godfrey Bloom pl:Godfrey Bloom ro:Godfrey Bloom fi:Godfrey Bloom