{"id":32971,"date":"2025-04-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.11onze.cat\/?p=32971"},"modified":"2025-03-19T19:26:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T18:26:53","slug":"power-ecb-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.11onze.cat\/en\/magazine\/power-ecb-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"What power does the ECB have over our economy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\n\n
\n
\n

What are the functions of the European Central Bank, what tools does the institution headed by Christine Lagarde have at its disposal, and how is it organised? Lara de Castro, HR Business Partner at 11Onze, explains the basics in a course on one of the most important institutions of the European Union.<\/b><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

The European Central Bank (<\/span>ECB<\/span><\/a>), which has its headquarters in the German city of Frankfurt, is <\/span>responsible for the monetary policy of the countries that make up the eurozone<\/b> and have the euro as their single currency.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Lara de Castro explains, it was set up a few months before 11 EU states adopted the euro as their single currency on 1 January 1999: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Finland.<\/span> As of today, the list of countries using the single currency has grown to 19<\/b>, with Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia and Estonia.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ECB and the national central banks of the eurozone member states constitute the <\/b>Eurosystem<\/b><\/a>. This is a different body than the European System of Central Banks, which also comprises the central banks of the EU countries that do not have the euro as their currency.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, there are territories that use the euro, but, as De Castro points out, they do not belong to the eurozone and, therefore, “do not participate in any way in the ECB’s monetary policy”. This is the case of San Marino, Vatican City, Monaco, Kosovo, Montenegro and <\/span>Andorra, the only one that “has euros with text in Catalan”<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

As De Castro explains, the start-up of the ECB “resembled that of a public limited company” in the sense that it has shares and share capital. In fact, <\/span>its current share capital is more than 10.8 billion euros<\/b>, which “are in the hands of the central banks of the member states, which act as shareholders”. The initial capital allocation was based on the population and GDP of the founding states, and has been modified six times.<\/span><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"\"\n