Organisation

Governing Council

Members

The Governing Council of the ECB is the main decision-making body of the Eurosystem. It comprises

• all the members of the Executive Board of the ECB, and 
• the governors/presidents of all the national central banks (NCBs) of the euro area, that is those EU Member States that have adopted the euro. 

The Treaty establishing the European Community and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB Statute) assign to the Governing Council the power to take the most important and strategically significant decisions for the Eurosystem. When taking decisions on monetary policy and on other tasks of the Eurosystem, the members of the Governing Council act not as national representatives but in a fully independent capacity.

The Governing Council currently meets twice a month, usually on the first and third Thursday. Interest rate decisions are normally discussed at the first meeting of the month only. The President of the EU Council/Eurogroup and a member of the European Commission may attend the meetings, but without having the right to vote. Each member of the Governing Council has one vote and, unless otherwise provided for in the ESCB Statute, the Governing Council acts by simple majority. In the event of a tie, the President has the casting vote. Although the proceedings of the meetings are confidential, the Governing Council makes the outcome of its deliberations public, primarily those about setting the key interest rates, via a press conference which is held after the first Governing Council meeting of each month. Since December 2004 decisions taken by the Governing Council other than those setting interest rates have also been published every month on the websites of the Eurosystem central banks.

Tasks

The main responsibilities of the Governing Council are:

• formulating the monetary policy of the euro area by taking the necessary decisions and adopting the Guidelines needed for its implementation;
• adopting the Regulations which the ECB may make in application of the Treaty or by delegation from the EU Council;
• acting as second and last instance for appeals of third parties to ECB Decisions adopted by the Executive Board;
• issuing Guidelines for operations of the NCBs with remaining foreign reserve assets and for the transactions of euro area member countries in their foreign exchange working balances;
• taking the necessary steps to ensure compliance with ECB Guidelines and Instructions and defining any necessary information to be provided by the NCBs;
• exercising the right of initiative for Community legislation and fulfilling the advisory role of the ECB;
• authorising the issuance of euro banknotes and the volume of issue of the euro coins within the euro area; 
• establishing the necessary rules for the standardisation of the accounting and reporting of operations undertaken by the national central banks; 
• adopting the rules governing the allocation of monetary income among the Eurosystem NCBs; and
• adopting the Annual Report of the ECB.

In addition, the Governing Council is the supreme decision-making body for the administration and functioning of the ECB itself. In particular, the Governing Council adopts the Rules of Procedure of the ECB and is competent with regard to its finances, budget and appropriation of the annual financial results.

For the up-to-date list of members including pictures, see www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/orga/decisions/govc