Professor Avgouleas speaks to the European Parliament Party’s conference on the European Central Bank

On Thursday 14 January, Edinburgh Law School’s Chair in International Banking Law and Finance contributed to a high-profile conference on the ECB

Professor Avgouleas was invited to speak as part of the European Parliament Party’s conference on the governance and accountability of the European Central Bank. He was part of a delegation including MEPs, senior ECB representatives, journalists, activists and political figures from across Europe.

Professor Avgouleas’s contribution stressed the need to reform the ECB’s governance within reason. In the latest Eurozone crisis, the ECB made many effective judgements but it is no longer a purely monetary authority. It has acquired a series of new powers, such as Eurozone bank supervision and it plays a central role in country rescue packages as a guardian of macro-economic conditionality. Professor Avgouleas contended that given the inherent conflict between maintaining price stability through very low interest rates and protecting financial stability means that the ECB’s statute must be reconsidered.

The presentation is available to stream here. The link will also provide the full programme from the conference.