BETA


1997/2252(INI) Democratic control of the Economic and monetary Union EMU

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead ECON RANDZIO-PLATH Christa (icon: PES PES)
Committee Opinion INST HERMAN Fernand H.J. (icon: PPE PPE)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 54

Events

1998/05/04
   Final act published in Official Journal
1998/04/02
   EP - Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
1998/04/02
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Documents
1998/04/02
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
1998/04/01
   EP - Debate in Parliament
Details

Reaffirming that the independence of the European Central Bank and its democratic accountability were two sides of the same coin, Mrs Randzio-Plath pointed out that Parliament had argued right from the start for this independence. However, as the Maastricht Treaty and statute of the Bank gave this institution not only rights but duties, she cited, in this last respect, its obligation to report to Parliament. Transparency, she added, insofar as this could allow the ECB to gain credibility and trust among public opinion, was in the Bank’s own interests. In addition, the rapporteur stressed the need for regular monetary dialogue between Parliament and the Bank which, according to the applicable law, could occur at any time at the request of the President of the ECB or Parliament. In addition to this dialogue, it would be sufficient and desirable to formally hold quarterly meetings with the parliamentary committee responsible. As for the members of the Bank’s Executive Board (on the subject of which Parliament did not demand the publication of details about their opinions during voting), Mrs Randzio-Plath confirmed that persons of high personal integrity with the professional expertise to have a clear vision in terms of economic and monetary policy needed to be appointed as members of the first Board at the head of this European institution. The Members who spoke on behalf of their respective political groups all called for the ECB to work transparently and ensure that it accordingly gained the trust of the people. Noting that the debate had been marked by the split between two cultures (one more Nordic and the other French), Commissioner de Silguy stressed that the ECB would play a vital role as the authority responsible for the EU’s monetary policy and that, as a result, its independence could not be called into question. He then rejected any amendment of the Treaty as this would be equivalent to opening Pandora’s box. Mr de Silguy argued instead that the charm of the contents of this box should be exhausted first. Having pointed out again that price stability was one of the ECB’s priority objectives and that, in this respect, the Bank’s independence was an essential condition, the Commissioner tackled the issue of relations between the ECB and the Community institutions: as the Treaty provided for Parliament’s consultation on the nomination of the President and other members of the Board and as an annual report from the ECB would be submitted to Parliament, Mr de Silguy felt that there was no reason to doubt that independence and dialogue could not and should not go hand in hand. He also suggested that the ECB President should be invited to the European Council every year in June, when the broad outlines of economic policy were adopted, to present his monetary policy. This could at the same time lead to possible debates on this subject within Parliament so that the representatives of public opinion were involved within this dialogue at the highest level. Finally, the Commission was prepared to consider concluding an interinstitutional agreement on the coordination of economic policies but Mr de Silguy said that a third partner would be required to conclude such an agreement, i.e. Council’s agreement would need to be obtained.

1998/03/18
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
1998/03/18
   EP - Vote in committee
1998/03/17
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Documents
1998/01/26
   EP - HERMAN Fernand H.J. (PPE) appointed as rapporteur in INST
1997/10/29
   EP - RANDZIO-PLATH Christa (PES) appointed as rapporteur in ECON
1997/10/24
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament

Documents

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

docs/0
date
1998-02-03T00:00:00
docs
title: PE223.957
type
Committee draft report
body
EP
docs/1
date
1998-04-02T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
body
EP
docs/1
date
1998-02-20T00:00:00
docs
title: PE223.957/AM
type
Amendments tabled in committee
body
EP
docs/1/docs/0/url
Old
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:1998:138:SOM:EN:HTML
New
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:1998:138:TOC
docs/2
date
1998-02-26T00:00:00
docs
title: PE225.296/DEF
committee
INST
type
Committee opinion
body
EP
docs/3
date
1998-03-02T00:00:00
docs
title: PE223.957/AM+
type
Amendments tabled in committee
body
EP
docs/4
date
1998-03-11T00:00:00
docs
title: PE223.957/B
type
Committee draft report
body
EP
docs/6
date
1998-04-02T00:00:00
docs
summary
type
Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
body
EP
events/2/date
Old
1998-03-18T00:00:00
New
1998-03-17T00:00:00
events/3/docs
  • url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-4-1998-04-01-TOC_EN.html title: Debate in Parliament
docs/5/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-4-1998-0110_EN.html
New
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-4-1998-0110_EN.html
events/0/type
Old
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
New
Committee referral announced in Parliament
events/1/type
Old
Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
New
Vote in committee
events/2
date
1998-03-18T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-4-1998-0110_EN.html title: A4-0110/1998
events/2
date
1998-03-18T00:00:00
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
body
EP
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-4-1998-0110_EN.html title: A4-0110/1998
events/4/type
Old
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
New
Decision by Parliament
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 54
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 052
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
associated
False
committee_full
Economic and Monetary Affairs, Industrial Policy
committee
ECON
rapporteur
name: RANDZIO-PLATH Christa date: 1997-10-29T00:00:00 group: Party of European Socialists abbr: PES
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
associated
False
committee_full
Economic and Monetary Affairs, Industrial Policy
committee
ECON
date
1997-10-29T00:00:00
rapporteur
name: RANDZIO-PLATH Christa group: Party of European Socialists abbr: PES
committees/1
type
Committee Opinion
body
EP
associated
False
committee_full
Institutional Affairs
committee
INST
rapporteur
name: HERMAN Fernand H.J. date: 1998-01-26T00:00:00 group: European People's Party (Christian Democrats) abbr: PPE
committees/1
type
Committee Opinion
body
EP
associated
False
committee_full
Institutional Affairs
committee
INST
date
1998-01-26T00:00:00
rapporteur
name: HERMAN Fernand H.J. group: European People's Party (Christian Democrats) abbr: PPE
docs/5
date
1998-03-18T00:00:00
docs
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
body
EP
docs/5
date
1998-03-18T00:00:00
docs
type
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
body
EP
docs/6/docs/0/url
Old
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:1998:138:TOC
New
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:1998:138:SOM:EN:HTML
events/2/docs/0/url
Old
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1998-110&language=EN
New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-4-1998-0110_EN.html
activities
  • date: 1997-10-24T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: ECON date: 1997-10-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs, Industrial Policy rapporteur: group: PSE name: RANDZIO-PLATH Christa body: EP responsible: False committee: INST date: 1998-01-26T00:00:00 committee_full: INST Institutional Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE name: HERMAN Fernand H.J.
  • body: EP committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: ECON date: 1997-10-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs, Industrial Policy rapporteur: group: PSE name: RANDZIO-PLATH Christa body: EP responsible: False committee: INST date: 1998-01-26T00:00:00 committee_full: INST Institutional Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE name: HERMAN Fernand H.J. docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1998-110&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A4-0110/1998 date: 1998-03-18T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 1998-04-01T00:00:00 body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 1998-04-02T00:00:00 docs: type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T4-0212/1998 body: EP type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 1998-05-04T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal
committees/0
type
Responsible Committee
body
EP
associated
False
committee_full
Economic and Monetary Affairs, Industrial Policy
committee
ECON
date
1997-10-29T00:00:00
rapporteur
name: RANDZIO-PLATH Christa group: Party of European Socialists abbr: PES
committees/0
body
EP
responsible
True
committee
ECON
date
1997-10-29T00:00:00
committee_full
Economic and Monetary Affairs, Industrial Policy
rapporteur
group: PSE name: RANDZIO-PLATH Christa
committees/1
type
Committee Opinion
body
EP
associated
False
committee_full
Institutional Affairs
committee
INST
date
1998-01-26T00:00:00
rapporteur
name: HERMAN Fernand H.J. group: European People's Party (Christian Democrats) abbr: PPE
committees/1
body
EP
responsible
False
committee
INST
date
1998-01-26T00:00:00
committee_full
INST Institutional Affairs
rapporteur
group: PPE name: HERMAN Fernand H.J.
docs
  • date: 1998-02-03T00:00:00 docs: title: PE223.957 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 1998-02-20T00:00:00 docs: title: PE223.957/AM type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
  • date: 1998-02-26T00:00:00 docs: title: PE225.296/DEF committee: INST type: Committee opinion body: EP
  • date: 1998-03-02T00:00:00 docs: title: PE223.957/AM+ type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
  • date: 1998-03-11T00:00:00 docs: title: PE223.957/B type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 1998-03-18T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1998-110&language=EN title: A4-0110/1998 url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:1998:138:TOC title: OJ C 138 04.05.1998, p. 0005 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP
  • date: 1998-04-02T00:00:00 docs: url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:C:1998:138:TOC title: OJ C 138 04.05.1998, p. 0142-0177 title: T4-0212/1998 summary: type: Text adopted by Parliament, single reading body: EP
events
  • date: 1997-10-24T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 1998-03-18T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP summary:
  • date: 1998-03-18T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1998-110&language=EN title: A4-0110/1998
  • date: 1998-04-01T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP summary: Reaffirming that the independence of the European Central Bank and its democratic accountability were two sides of the same coin, Mrs Randzio-Plath pointed out that Parliament had argued right from the start for this independence. However, as the Maastricht Treaty and statute of the Bank gave this institution not only rights but duties, she cited, in this last respect, its obligation to report to Parliament. Transparency, she added, insofar as this could allow the ECB to gain credibility and trust among public opinion, was in the Bank’s own interests. In addition, the rapporteur stressed the need for regular monetary dialogue between Parliament and the Bank which, according to the applicable law, could occur at any time at the request of the President of the ECB or Parliament. In addition to this dialogue, it would be sufficient and desirable to formally hold quarterly meetings with the parliamentary committee responsible. As for the members of the Bank’s Executive Board (on the subject of which Parliament did not demand the publication of details about their opinions during voting), Mrs Randzio-Plath confirmed that persons of high personal integrity with the professional expertise to have a clear vision in terms of economic and monetary policy needed to be appointed as members of the first Board at the head of this European institution. The Members who spoke on behalf of their respective political groups all called for the ECB to work transparently and ensure that it accordingly gained the trust of the people. Noting that the debate had been marked by the split between two cultures (one more Nordic and the other French), Commissioner de Silguy stressed that the ECB would play a vital role as the authority responsible for the EU’s monetary policy and that, as a result, its independence could not be called into question. He then rejected any amendment of the Treaty as this would be equivalent to opening Pandora’s box. Mr de Silguy argued instead that the charm of the contents of this box should be exhausted first. Having pointed out again that price stability was one of the ECB’s priority objectives and that, in this respect, the Bank’s independence was an essential condition, the Commissioner tackled the issue of relations between the ECB and the Community institutions: as the Treaty provided for Parliament’s consultation on the nomination of the President and other members of the Board and as an annual report from the ECB would be submitted to Parliament, Mr de Silguy felt that there was no reason to doubt that independence and dialogue could not and should not go hand in hand. He also suggested that the ECB President should be invited to the European Council every year in June, when the broad outlines of economic policy were adopted, to present his monetary policy. This could at the same time lead to possible debates on this subject within Parliament so that the representatives of public opinion were involved within this dialogue at the highest level. Finally, the Commission was prepared to consider concluding an interinstitutional agreement on the coordination of economic policies but Mr de Silguy said that a third partner would be required to conclude such an agreement, i.e. Council’s agreement would need to be obtained.
  • date: 1998-04-02T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: title: T4-0212/1998 summary:
  • date: 1998-04-02T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
  • date: 1998-05-04T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal
links
other
    procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
    Old
    ECON/4/09443
    New
    • ECON/4/09443
    procedure/legal_basis/0
    Rules of Procedure EP 052
    procedure/legal_basis/0
    Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052
    procedure/subject
    Old
    • 5.20.01 Coordination of monetary policies, European Monetary Institute (EMI), Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
    New
    5.20.01
    Coordination of monetary policies, European Monetary Institute (EMI), Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
    activities
    • date: 1997-10-24T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: ECON date: 1997-10-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs, Industrial Policy rapporteur: group: PSE name: RANDZIO-PLATH Christa body: EP responsible: False committee: INST date: 1998-01-26T00:00:00 committee_full: INST Institutional Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE name: HERMAN Fernand H.J.
    • body: EP committees: body: EP responsible: True committee: ECON date: 1997-10-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs, Industrial Policy rapporteur: group: PSE name: RANDZIO-PLATH Christa body: EP responsible: False committee: INST date: 1998-01-26T00:00:00 committee_full: INST Institutional Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE name: HERMAN Fernand H.J. docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A4-1998-110&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A4-0110/1998 date: 1998-03-18T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
    • date: 1998-04-01T00:00:00 body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
    • date: 1998-04-02T00:00:00 docs: type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T4-0212/1998 body: EP type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
    • date: 1998-05-04T00:00:00 type: Final act published in Official Journal
    committees
    • body: EP responsible: True committee: ECON date: 1997-10-29T00:00:00 committee_full: Economic and Monetary Affairs, Industrial Policy rapporteur: group: PSE name: RANDZIO-PLATH Christa
    • body: EP responsible: False committee: INST date: 1998-01-26T00:00:00 committee_full: INST Institutional Affairs rapporteur: group: PPE name: HERMAN Fernand H.J.
    links
    other
      procedure
      dossier_of_the_committee
      ECON/4/09443
      reference
      1997/2252(INI)
      title
      Democratic control of the Economic and monetary Union EMU
      legal_basis
      Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 052
      stage_reached
      Procedure completed
      subtype
      Initiative
      type
      INI - Own-initiative procedure
      subject
      5.20.01 Coordination of monetary policies, European Monetary Institute (EMI), Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)