The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is composed of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the National Central Banks (NCB's) of all 15 EU Member States. The "Eurosystem" is the term used to refer to the ECB and the NCBs of the Member States who have euro as their national currency. The NCB's of the Member States which are yet to adopt euro as their national currency have the privilege to become the members of ESCB with a special status. The primary objective of the Eurosystem is to maintain price stability with the aid of European Community and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and the European Central Bank. Without prejudice to this objective, it shall support the general economic policies in the Community and act in accordance with the principles of an open market economy.
The process of decision-making in the Eurosystem is centralised through the decision-making bodies of the ECB, namely the Governing Council and the Executive Board. As long as there are Member States which have not yet adopted the euro, a third decision-making body, the General Council, shall also exist.
The Governing Council comprises all the members of the Executive Board and the governors of the NCBs of the Member States without derogation, i.e. those countries which have adopted the euro. The main responsibilities of the Governing Council are to adopt the guidelines and take the decisions necessary to ensure the performance of the tasks entrusted to the Eurosystem, to formulate the monetary policy of the euro area (including, as appropriate, decisions relating to intermediate monetary objectives, key interest rates and the supply of reserves in the Eurosystem), and to establish the necessary guidelines for their implementation.
[...] the Council of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) for the first appointments). The main responsibilities of the Executive Board are: to implement monetary policy in accordance with the guidelines and decisions laid down by the Governing Council of the ECB and to execute those powers which have been delegated to it by the Governing Council of the ECB. The General Council comprises the President and the Vice-President and the governors of the NCBs of all 15 Member States. The General Council performs the tasks which the ECB took over from the EMI and which, owing to the derogation of one or more Member States, still have to be performed in Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). [...]
[...] It is possible to execute open market operations on the basis of standard tenders, quick tenders or bilateral procedures. With regard to their aim, regularity and procedures, the open market operations of the Eurosystem can be divided into the following four categories: refinancing operations (regular liquidity-providing reverse transactions with a weekly frequency and a maturity of two weeks), the longer-term refinancing operations (liquidity- providing reverse transactions with a monthly frequency and a maturity of three months), fine-tuning operations (managing the liquidity situation in the market and steering interest rates, in particular in order to smooth the effects on interest rates caused by unexpected liquidity fluctuations and structural operations (the issuance of debt certificates, reverse transactions and outright transactions) . [...]
[...] Finally, in order to undertake the tasks of the ESCB, the ECB, assisted by the NCBs, shall collect the necessary statistical information either from the competent national authorities or directly from economic agents. The primary objective of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), as defined in Article 2 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank is to maintain price stability. Without prejudice to the primary objective of price stability, the ESCB shall support the general economic policies in the Community with a view to contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Community. [...]
[...] The euro area NCBs have paid up their respective subscriptions to the ECB's capital in full. The NCBs of the non-participating countries have paid up of their respective subscriptions to the ECB's capital as a contribution to the operational costs of the ECB. As a result, the ECB was endowed with an initial capital of just under EUR 4 billion. In addition, the NCBs of the Member States participating in the euro area have provided the ECB with foreign reserve assets of up to an amount equivalent to around EUR 40 billion. [...]
[...] The European System of Central Banks Introduction The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is composed of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks (NCBs) of all 15 EU Member States. The "Eurosystem" is the term used to refer to the ECB and the NCBs of the Member States which have adopted the euro. The NCBs of the Member States which do not participate in the euro area, however, are members of the ESCB with a special status while they are allowed to conduct their respective national monetary policies, they do not take part in the decision-making with regard to the single monetary policy for the euro area and the implementation of such decisions. [...]
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