Is the European Union preparing to return to the gold standard?

Gold market analyst Jan Nieuwenhuijs believes he has found evidence that Europe is preparing to introduce a new gold standard. He claims that the recent transactions of several Eastern European countries, and the buying or selling of gold to achieve a certain ratio – are part of the preparatory measures for this development. According to him, the European countries are therefore preparing to cover their currency at least partially with gold.

The expert found evidence that this is being coordinated, even if central banks publicly deny it. The root of this joint cooperation may have been a meeting in Washington in 1999. This is the Central Bank Gold Agreements – Golden Agreements of Central Banks – resulted. Based on this, 15 central banks concluded a pact to coordinate their gold sales and maintain the stability of the gold market.

Regarding this agreement, Nieuwenhuijs said: “If you pay close attention, you can see that it was obviously intended to equalize the gold reserves between countries in relation to GDP.”

The states of Eastern Europe greatly increased their gold reserves

His claims need to be proven, Nieuwenhuijs about it reportedthat countries such as Poland Hungary and the recent purchases by the Czech Republic were aimed at bringing the ratio of gold reserves to GDP in line with that of the Eurozone countries. This is supported by the statements of Konrad Raczkowski, the former finance minister of Poland, who commented directly on these figures.

Raczkowski estimated that Poland would need to buy 120 tons of gold to reach the 4% GDP ratio held by several other Eurozone countries. He then stated:
“It looks like it will be the new gold standard for the entire eurozone in the near future. These reserves will have to be adjusted to the size of the economy.”

Still, Nieuwenhuijs reported that even with all the evidence surrounding these coordinated moves, central banks continue to deny that any sort of harmonization is behind the transactions. “Most of the numerous requests for information submitted to central banks and finance ministries throughout Europe were unsuccessful, and I received no response.“, he emphasized.

In some cases, however, he received a negative response to these submissions. The Belgian central bank, for example, claimed that this requested information “they are confidential.” The central bank must comply with the Central Banking Act, which establishes the institution “to a legal obligation of confidentiality” obliges.

In August, Nieuwenhuijs claimed that China, which had reportedly stopped buying gold, had secretly increased its reserves to take advantage of the drop in the exchange rate.