Organisation

General Council

Members

The General Council of the ECB comprises 

• the President and Vice-President of the ECB, and 
• the governors/presidents of the national central banks of all 27 EU Member States. 

The General Council usually meets once every three months. Decisions are taken by a simple majority unless otherwise stipulated in the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB Statute). The President of the ECB has to keep the General Council informed of decisions taken by the Governing Council. 

In accordance with the ESCB Statute, the General Council will exist only as long as there are EU Member States which have not adopted the euro.

Tasks

The General Council can be regarded as a "transitional body" since it carries out the tasks, taken over from the European Monetary Institute, which the ECB is required to perform in Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) because some EU Member States have not adopted the euro. 

The General Council is primarily responsible for 

• reporting on the progress made towards convergence by EU Member States which have not yet adopted the euro;
• giving advice on the preparations necessary for irrevocably fixing the exchange rates of those Member States;
• monitoring the functioning of the Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II) and the sustainability of bilateral exchange rate relations between each participating non-euro area currency and the euro;
• serving as a forum for monetary and exchange rate policy coordination in the EU;
• the administration of the intervention and financing mechanism of ERM II;
• contributing to particular activities, such as the ECB's advisory functions, and 
• the collection of statistical information.

Moreover, the General Council is also consulted inter alia on changes to the rules on accounting and financial reporting, the determination of the ECB's capital key and the conditions of employment of ECB staff. 

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