EMU (Hansard, 2 November 1998)

§ Mr. Mitchell
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the national currency reserves of member states proceeding to stage 3 of Economic and Monetary Union will be(a) deposited and (b) subsequently available for use by the European Central Bank; if those amounts will be published; and what authority within the Central Bank will be required for them to be used. [57485]

§ Ms Hewitt
Article 30 of the ESCB Statute states that the individual contributions of the national central banks of participating Member States to the foreign reserve assets of the European Central Bank shall be fixed in proportion to their shares in the subscribed capital of the ECB. Under Article 29 of the ESCB Statute, this provides for weightings based on relative population and national income.
In July, the Governing Council of the ECB decided on the size of the initial transfer of foreign reserve assets to the ECB from the national central banks of participating Member States. The initial transfer of foreign reserve assets will total approximately 40 billion euro. This amounts to around 10 per cent. of the total foreign reserve assets held by euro area Member States at end-September 1998. The remaining reserve assets will be the responsibility of the national central banks, subject to Article 31 of the ESCB Statute.
Article 105(2) of the EC Treaty provides that the European System of Central Banks will hold and manage the foreign reserves transferred by participating Member States and may use these reserves to conduct foreign exchange operations. Under Article 9.2 of the ESCB Statute, tasks conferred upon the ECB may be implemented by the ECB either through its own activities or through the national central banks of participating Member States. The respective roles of the ECB and the euro area central banks in foreign exchange policy issues is a decision for the ECB's governing bodies: the Governing Council and the Executive Board.

§ Mr. Mitchell
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what body will act as lender of last resort in(a) each individual EMU member and (b) Europe as a whole when the European Central Bank comes into operation. [57460]
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§ Ms Hewitt
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to him by the then Economic Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts (Mrs. Liddell), on 9 June 1998,Official Report, column 496. The position as set out in the EC Treaty has not changed.

§ Mr. Mitchell
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which of the(a) policy and (b) operational decisions of the European Central Bank will, after 1 January 1999, be the responsibility of its (i) Governing Board, (ii) Executive Council and (iii) Presidency. [57462]

§ Ms Hewitt
The responsibilities of the Governing Council, Executive Board and President of the European Central Bank are set out in Articles 12 and 13 of the Statute of the ESCB—Protocol No.3 to the EC Treaty. This includes some discretion for the Governing Council to delegate certain powers to the Executive Board.