Independence of the European Central Bank

Središnja banka je glavna financijska institucija koja regulira monetarnu politiku neke države. Najvažniji cilj su: održavanje stabilnosti valute, a preduvjet učinkovitog djelovanja središnje banke je njezina nezavisnost iz razloga što su političke stranke, dominantno orijentirane na kratkoročne pozitivne ekonomske učinke. Europska središnja banka je osnovana prema Ugovoru o Europskoj uniji. S pojavom financijske krize 2008. došlo je do mnogih turbulencija na tržištu te je Europska središnja banka korištenjem nestandardnim monetarnim instrumentima uspjela spasiti euro i održati stabilnost cijena. ESB je u krizi bila izložena pojačanim pritiscima da djeluje kao zajmodavac u krajnjoj nuždi državama kako bi pomogla zaduženim zemljama i spriječila širenje krize diljem eurozone. Pojavilo se pitanje jesu li sve njene mjere bile legitimne, odnosno je li je nezavisnost Europske središnje banke tim postupcima postala upitna. Problem oko pitanja nezavisnoti je prvenstveno nastao iz razloga što različite zemlje različito interpretiraju nezavisnost ESB-a. Njemačka je tradicionalno vrlo striktna oko pitanja nezavisnosti dok Francuska, s druge strane, smatra da mora postojati kompromis između gospodarskih ciljeva poput stabilnosti cijena, s jedne strane, te zapošljavanja i gospodarskog rasta s druge strane. Ključno pitanje koje je ostalo neodgovoreno jest da li je dobro što je ESB u vremenu krize djelovala u skladu s određenim političkim odlukama kako bi spasila europodručje ili je to bilo samo kupovanje vremena.The central bank is the main financial institution that controls the monetary policy of a country. The most important goal is preserving currency stability, and a prerequisite for the effective operation of the central bank is its independence because the political parties, are predominantly oriented to short-term positive economic effects. The European Central Bank was established under the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union. With the emergence of the financial crisis in 2008, there have been many turbulences on the market and the European Central Bank started to use non-standard monetary instruments in order to save the euro and to maintain price stability. The ECB has been exposed in crisis to increased pressures to act as a lender of last resort to help indebted countries and prevent the spread of the crisis across the eurozone. The question arose whether all its measures were legitimate and if the independence of the European Central Bank has been become undermined. The issue over independence primarily arose because different countries have interpreted differently the independence of the ECB. Germany has traditionally been very strict on the question of independence while France, believes that there must be a compromise between economic goals such as price stability, on the one hand, and employment and economic growth on the other. The key question that remains unanswered is whether it is good that the ECB during the crisis acted in accordance with certain political decisions in order to save the euro area or was it only buying time