Council Recommendation of 3 May 1998 concerning the appointment of the President, the Vice-President and other Members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.

The Heads of State or Government of the Member States, having considered the EU Council’s recommendation of 3 May 1998 concerning the appointment of members of the European Central Bank (ECB), agree by common accord to appoint Wim Duisenberg as President of the ECB. This extract is from the press conference held by Tony Blair, British Prime Minister and President of the Council, meeting in the composition of the Heads of State or Government, on the appointment of Wim Duisenberg and his successor.

Decision taken by common accord of the Governments of the Member States adopting the single currency at the level of Heads of State or Government of 26 May 1998 appointing the President, the Vice-President and the other members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (98/345/EC).

Decision taken by common accord, at the level of Heads of State or Government, by the Governments of the Member States having the Euro as their currency of 20 May 2005 appointing a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (2005/391/EC).

First Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, adopted on 7 July 1998.

Le 1er novembre 2003, à l’occasion de la prise de fonction de Jean-Claude Trichet comme nouveau président de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE), le quotidien français Le Monde brosse un tableau général de l’organisation et le fonctionnement de l’institution.

Sirkka Hämäläinen, a Member of the ECB Executive Board and former governor of the Bank of Finland, describes the duties of the Members of the Executive Board and the primary objectives of the European system of central banks (ESCB).

A meeting of the Members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. From left to right: Eugenio Domingo Solans, Christian Noyer, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Sirkka Hämäläinen, Otmar Issing, Willem F. Duisenberg.

Meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.

Meeting of the General Council of the European Central Bank.

This article, from Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, describes the arguments put forward by supporters and opponents of the monetary policy pursued by the European Central Bank with a view to achieving its objective: maintaining price stability.

In an interview granted to the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, Otmar Issing, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), defends the institution’s monetary policy. The ECB’s commitment to maintaining price stability represents the main contribution of monetary policy to economic growth in the medium term. Taking the view that in the long term there can be no trade-off between price stability and growth, Otmar Issing does not see any reason why the ECB should make its mandate dependent on the short-term economic situation.

Extract from the interview with the former President of the German Central Bank, Karl Otto Pöhl, which appeared in the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel on 29 October 2001. Pöhl gives his opinion on the policies of the European Central Bank (ECB) with regard to rates and on the possibility of implementing a much broader interpretation of Article 2 of the Bank’s Statute.