In its meeting on 6 September 2012, the Governing Council of the ECB took decisions on a number of technical features regarding the Eurosystem's outright transactions in secondary sovereign bond markets (OMT). This decision was challenged in the German Federal Constitutional Court (GFCC) by a...

The Treaty of Maastricht imposed the strict obligation on the European Union (EU) to establish an economic and monetary union, now Article 3(4) TEU. This economic and monetary union is, however, not designed as a separate entity but as an integral part of the EU. The single currency was to...

The paper traces the developments from the formation of the European Economic and Monetary Union to this date. It discusses the fact that the primary mandate of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is confined to safeguarding price stability and does not include general economic policy....

With the increasing pressure to abolish cash and the moves to restrict its use, the regulation of legal tender in the primary law of the EU has gained enhanced attention. The core provision is Article 128 TFEU which contains the rules on the issue of banknotes and coins. The author analyzes the...

In the communication of the European Central Bank (ECB), the statement that "we act within our mandate" is often referred to. Also among practitioners of the Eurosystem the term "mandate" has become popular. In his Working Paper, Helmut Siekmann analyzes the legal foundation of the tasks and...