Brussels, 19/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission adopted on Wednesday a broadly positive opinion on the European Central Bank (ECB)'s proposal on an amendment of the voting modalities in its Governing Council. The Commission considers that the proposed model "constitutes a step towards securing the continued efficiency of decision-making within the ECB in the perspective of enlargement", and that the ECB's recommendation could benefit from a further clarification in respect to the rotation frequency and the sequence of attribution of the voting rights within each group. The Commission also wished the "population" criterion to be taken into account (as well as that of GDP), to avoid a country such as Poland being relegated to the ranks of the "medium" member states, despite having as many inhabitants as Spain.
In a press conference, Commissioner Pedro Solbes acknowledged that this proposal was not an "ideal solution", but trusted that the European Convention's work would allow a more equitable long-term solution to be found. In its opinion, the Commission "recognises that the legal base of the ECB's recommendation (Article 10.6 ECB, the so-called 'enabling clause') imposes important constraints and limitations, which prevented the ECB from considering more comprehensive reform of its governance structure". The Commission's opinion was adopted the day after the Ecofin Council's political agreement on the subject, although Finland and the Netherlands voiced criticism of a system which could disadvantage their representatives. The Parliament is also to pronounce its opinion on the ECB recommendation before it is discussed by the Council with a view to unanimous agreement.
The ECB Governing Council is composed of the six members of the Executive Board together with the governors of the different national central banks of the eurozone member states (12 governors at present). In the current system, each member of the Governing Council has a single voting right. Enlargement by ten accession countries in 2004- although they will not be joining the euro at this time- and the possible membership of the UK, Denmark and Sweden could bring the institution to a standstill. On 3 February 2003, a few days after the Nice Treaty entered into force, the ECB tabled a recommendation proposing to limit the total number of voting rights in the Governing Council to a maximum of 21- the six members of the Executive Board and 15 national governors- however many countries joined the euro. A rotation system would be set up and the countries positioned (by GDP and the importance of the financial sector in the country) into two groups, once the number of euro members passed 15, and into three groups- small, medium and large- once the number of members reached 22. Under this system, five large countries- France, Italy, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom- would vote on 80% of cases, the "mediums" would take part in 57% of votes and the "small member states" in 38% of economic and monetary policy decisions.