Brussels, 05/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption, on Wednesday, by 458 votes to 60 and 56 abstentions, of the report by German Social Democrat Christa Randzio-Plath on the annual report for 2000 from the European Central Bank, the European Parliament considers that, in a concern for transparency, the Governing Council should give its stance on monetary policy at the end of each meeting. It also believes that the results of votes should be made public anonymously in order to avoid excessive pressure being put on Council members. It encourages the ECB to consolidate its approach on the basis of two pillars by reducing the importance granted to the "M3", given the notable uncertainty that is weighing on the interpretation of monetary aggregates (the other pillar covers aims regarding inflation).
Finally, paragraph 9 of the resolution that called on the central bank to define the aim of price stability in the form of a single rate of inflation, was rejected by the plenary, as was another paragraph that stressed that, in the context of enlargement, a high degree of economic convergence is needed to reduce the burden on the Community and the candidate countries.
During the debate the day before, Ms Randzio-Plath recognised the grounds for the technical decisions taken by the ECB, noting, however, that this is not enough to promote confidence in the euro. She therefore also requests, in her report, the publication of minutes that take up the arguments for and against a position, saying "such a document would make the logic behind the decision more understandable". (See EUROPE of 5 July, pp.8 and 9).