Governing Council of the European Central Bank


The Governing Council of the European Central Bank is the main decision-making body of the European Central Bank and has "sole responsibility" for formulating monetary policy in the Eurozone. It comprises the members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank and the governors of the national central banks of the Eurozone's 19 member states.

Responsibilities

The Governing Council is responsible for formulating monetary policy for the Eurozone. Specifically:
In general, the Governing Council meets twice a month at the Eurotower in Frankfurt, Germany. The first meeting is the most important and is devoted to the assessment of economic and monetary developments, and every six weeks the ECB President conducts a press conference to explain monetary policy decisions. According to a 2014 study of the euro-dollar foreign exchange market on days when the GC announces interest rate decisions, there is "strong evidence" that these monetary policy announcements "contain significant news content" based on trading activity.
At the second meeting, the GC discusses issues concerning other tasks of the ECB and the Eurosystem. The ECB publishes the accounts of the GC's monetary policy meetings.
According to the Treaty of Rome, the President of the European Council may submit a motion for deliberation to the Governing Council of the ECB.

Composition

The Governing Council consists of: