Governing Council of the European Central Bank: Voting rights

Slovakia became the 16th Eurozone country from the beginning of 2009. This forced the European Central Bank (ECB) to address the issue of voting rights. When we last wrote about this issue concerning the ECB Rules of Procedure, the matter was still under consideration.


Postponement

Before the end of 2008 the ECB decided to postpone the move to a new voting system, by Decision of the European Central Bank ECB/2008/29 of 18 December 2008 to postpone the start of the rotation system in the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 7.1.2009 L 3/4. The postponement entered into force on 1 January 2009. The new voting system for governors of national central banks takes effect when two more countries adopt the euro.



An explanatory press release was issued 18 December 2008.



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Future voting system

The future voting system has now been elaborated, by amending the ECB’s Rules of Procedure.

Decision of the European Central Bank ECB/2009/5 of 19 March 2009 amending Decision ECB/2004/2 of 19 February 2004 adopting the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 18.4.2008 L 100/10.



The decision is based on monthly rotation between governors.



Ralf Grahn