The European Central Bank (ECB)

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The European Central Bank manages the Euro currency for the 19 countries that have adopted it and seeks to maintain price stability in the EU.

It has a number of key tasks in the management of financial stability in the EU (not just in the countries of the Euro), such as controlling the supply of money in the EU and watching for dangerous patterns of price inflation and deflation.

The President of the ECB (currently Mario Draghi) is appointed and is politically independent, which has, however, attracted criticisms regarding the his/her lack of accountability.

Click on this link to find out more about the ECB

• Have a look at the major tasks of the ECB – what are they?
• Notice the difference between the ESCB and the Eurosystem
• Notice how these differences are reflected in the way the Bank is structured
• Is the ECB independent?

Further information on the ECB can be found here.

General government debt in euros

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