THE ROLE OF EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK IN INSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM OF THE EU

Abstract

Bearing in mind the economic structure of a federal state where a single market is superimposed on a single currency (the United States of America, for example), the creators of the European Union Maastricht Treaty of 1993 established a program for the introduction of a European monetary union based on a common European currency – the euro. The aforementioned agreement foresees the establishment of bodies such as the European Central Bank and the System of European Central Banks, which are competent to manage the common currency. The bodies of the monetary union were separated from other main institutions in the treaty on the European Community. The previously presented approach was radically changed by the Lisbon Treaty on the European Union from 2009. Namely, in this text, the European Central Bank is mentioned in Chapter III of the Treaty on the European Union on the list of its main institutions, along with the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, and the Court of Accounts. The bodies of the European Central Bank are the Board of Directors, the Board of Governors, and the Management Board. The European Central Bank is by nature a supranational, independent body, and its managers cannot receive or seek instructions from Union institutions, Member States’ governments or other organizations. The powers of the European Central Bank are very significant and are primarily reflected in its right to issue and set interest rates.