European Central Bank III: Article III-187 Constitution

The intergovernmental conference (IGC 2004) amended the main institutional provision on the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the European Central Bank (ECB) in Article III-79 of the draft Constitution, proposed by the European Convention.


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In the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, the provisions on monetary policy are located in Part III ‘The policies and functioning of the Union’, Title III ‘Internal policies and action’, Chapter II ‘Economic and monetary policy’, Section 2 ‘Monetary policy’.

Article III-187 sets out a shorter text, by deleting the first two paragraphs of the draft Constitution, OJ 16.12.2004 C 310/82:

Article III-187 Constitution

1. The European System of Central Banks shall be governed by the decision-making bodies of the European Central Bank, which shall be the Governing Council and the Executive Board.

2. The Statute of the European System of Central Banks is laid down in the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank.

3. Article 5(1), (2) and (3), Articles 17 and 18, Article 19(1), Articles 22, 23, 24 and 26, Article 32(2), (3), (4) and (6), Article 33(1)(a) and Article 36 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank may be amended by European laws:

(a) either on a proposal from the Commission and after consultation of the European Central Bank;

(b) or on a recommendation from the European Central Bank and after consultation of the Commission.

4. The Council shall adopt the European regulations and decisions laying down the measures referred to in Article 4, Article 5(4), Article 19(2), Article 20, Article 28(1), Article 29(2), Article 30(4) and Article 34(3) of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank. It shall act after consulting the European Parliament:

(a) either on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Central Bank;

(b) or on a recommendation from the European Central Bank and after consulting the Commission.

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The next post is going to present Constitutional Treaty Article III-187 as it appears in the Treaty of Lisbon.

Ralf Grahn