§ Lord Shore of Stepneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
With reference to decisions on Euroland interest rates made by the European Central Bank, whether the Bank's Governing Council acts by a simple majority vote in which, together with the Executive Board, each governor of the Bank of each slate has the same equal vote, regardless of size and wealth of the different member states; or whether bank rate decisions are made by a qualified majority vote or by a vote weighted according to the population and GDP of each member state; and on what decisions made by the Governing Council voting takes place on the 55WA basis of the weighting of each country's vote according to its population size and its GDP. [HL1570]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyIn accordance with Article 10.2 of the ESCB Statute, Protocol No. 3 to the EC Treaty, decisions on euro interest rates are taken by the ECB Governing Council acting by a simple majority. In the event of a tie, the President has the casting vote.
In accordance with Article 10.3 of the ESCB Statute, for decisions taken under Articles 28, 29, 30, 32, 33 and 51 of the ESCB Statute, votes in the Governing Council are weighted according to national central banks' shares in the subscribed capital of the ECB. The weights of votes of members of the Executive Board will be zero. A decision requiring a qualified majority shall be adopted if the votes cast in favour represent at least two thirds of the subscribed capital of the ECB and represent at least half of the shareholders.