The Establishment of the European System of Central Banks and the Eurosystem

Abstract

This chapter looks into the establishment of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurosystem. While the first section focuses on the Treaty of Maastricht as the foundation of economic and monetary union (EMU) law, the second draws attention to the decision to launch monetary and economic unification concurrently and to their inherent asymmetry. It then discusses the component parts of the definition of the European EMU. The third section examines the provisions of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as well as the related Protocols and Declarations annexed to the Treaties (including the Protocol on the Statute of the ESCB and of the European Central Bank) as sources of EMU law. Finally, the fourth section provides a brief overview of the legal acts of secondary European law, which constitute sources of EMU law, as well as the Intergovernmental Agreements, which were adopted after the onset of the ongoing fiscal crisis in the euro area (also discussed therein).