start of the third stage and which shall decrease by at
least 12 percentage points in each subsequent financial year.
51.2. Article 51.1. shall be applicable for not more than five financial
years after the start of the third stage.
ARTICLE 52
Exchange of bank notes in Community currencies.
Following the irrevocable fixing of exchange rates, the Governing
Council shall take the necessary measures to ensure that bank notes
denominated in currencies with irrevocably fixed exchange rates are
exchanged by the national central banks at their respective par
values.
ARTICLE 53
Applicability of the transitional provisions
If and as long as there are Member States with a derogation Articles
43 to 48 shall be applicable.

PROTOCOL
ON THE STATUTE OF THE EUROPEAN MONETARY INSTITUTE
THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,
DESIRING to lay down the Statute of the European Monetary Institute,
HAVE AGREED upon the following provisions, which shall be annexed
to the Treaty establishing the European Community:
ARTICLE 1
Constitution and name
1.1. The European Monetary Institute (EMI) shall be established in
accordance with Article 109f of this Treaty; it shall perform its functions
and carry out its activities in accordance with the provisions of this
Treaty and of this Statute.
1.2. The members of the EMI shall be the central banks of the Member
States ("national central banks"). For the purposes of the Statute, the
Institut monetaire luxembourgeois shall be regarded as the central
bank of Luxembourg.
1.3. Pursuant to Article 109f of this Treaty, both the Committee of
Governors and the European Monetary Co-operation Fund (EMCF)
shall be dissolved. All assets and liabilities of the EMCF shall pass
automatically to the EMI.
ARTICLE 2
Objectives
The EMI shall contribute to the realization of the conditions necessary
for the transition to the third stage of Economic and Monetary Union, in
particular by:
- strengthening the co-ordination of monetary policies with a view to
ensuring price stability;
- making the preparations required for the establishment of the
European System of Central Banks (ESCB), and for the conduct of a
single monetary policy and the creation of a single currency in the
third stage;
- overseeing the development of the ECU.
ARTICLE 3
General principles
3.1. The EMI shall carry out the tasks and functions conferred upon it
by this Treaty and this Statute without prejudice to the responsibility of
the competent author