Press Release: MEP Henrike Hahn on the ECB report by the European Parliament

Yesterday night the European Parliament adopted its report on the ECB policies with a large majority of 569 in favour and 84 against with 38 abstentions.

MEP Henrike Hahn, Greens/EFA shadow rapporteur on this report and industrial spokesperson for the German Greens, comments:

“We are very happy with the outcome of this report with very progressive elements on climate, gender, and transparency.

It contains a whole section action on the ECB role against climate change, whose length and ambition is unprecedented for an ECB annual report. For instance, it stresses the need for the ECB to comply with the Paris agreement, stresses the impact of climate change on inflation, emphasizes potential limitations of the market neutrality principle, and calls for the ECB to look at the climate impact of its measures (double materiality principle).

The remaining sections contain strong language on a number of our priorities, such as the importance of supportive and discretionary fiscal policy, the under-representation of women in ECB top positions, and the need for a review of the cooling-off period for outgoing members to avoid conflict of interests.“

Background:

This annual report by the EP is meant to provide feedback on the activities conducted by the ECB in the previous year. However, the Report typically extends beyond this and turns into a platform to provide political messages regarding the ECB broadly speaking.

The Report is one of the key instruments ECON and the EP have to exercise their accountability rights vis-a-vis the ECB and it is enshrined in the Treaty. This year’s report is the first one after the ECB Strategy Review, which introduced important and positive new elements to the ECB’s toolkit, notably regarding the ECB’s contribution to climate change, but also the introduction of a symmetric inflation target and a better reflection of housing costs in inflation calculations.

My team and I are at your disposal in case of any questions or comments.

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