Monetary sovereignty is the power of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

to exercise exclusive legal control over its

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

, broadly defined, by exercise of the following powers: *

Legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that Standard of deferred payment, courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment in court for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything ...

– the exclusive authority to designate the legal tender forms of payment. * Issuance and retirement – the exclusive authority to control the issuance and retirement of the legal tender."The Legal Aspect of Money" by F.A. Mann, 5th edition, Oxford, 1992, pp. 460-78

Incidence of monetary sovereignty

Currently, nations such as the USA and Japan, which have autonomous central banks exercise monetary sovereignty. On the other hand, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

nations within the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

, have ceded much of their monetary sovereignty to the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

References

{{Central banks Currency Monetary reform Sovereignty Economic nationalism