Brussels, 09/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - In its opinion adopted last week (EUROPE 9462) on the mandate of the intergovernmental conference (IGC), the European Central Bank (ECB) took as its basis of the principle that unless there are indications to the contrary, all the modifications contained in the draft Constitution, and only these, will be brought into the future Treaty. The establishment of an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the currency of which will be the euro, and price stability will feature amongst the objectives of the EU, according to the ECB, which is to become a stand-alone institution. Noting also that the monetary policy will, in future, be specifically included as an exclusive competence of the EU, it also welcomes the inclusion of innovations regarding euro governance in the mandate.
In this way, the existence of the Eurogroup would be recognised, as planned in innovations in the draft Constitution. The mandate defined by the Heads of State and Government provides for the protocol on Eurogroup (protocol 12), which was concluded at the 2004 IGC, and which sets the details for meetings between Finance Ministers of the euro zone members, to be annexed to the current Treaties. Eurogroup would remain an informal body, rather than a decision-making one, but the specific voting procedures within the Ecofin Council would provide for the Member States using the euro as their currency to be the only ones allowed to vote on certain points. This will be the case for measures concerning them in terms of budgetary and economic policy (article III-194 of the draft Constitution) and unified representation within the international institutions and forums (article III-196). (ab)