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This paper analyzes the legal position of the European Central Bank (ECB) within the context of contemporary social conditions, focusing on the ECB’s tendency to expand its competencies and the judicial evaluation of the current monetary legislation in the practice of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In this sense, the paper analytically examines the concept and characteristics of monetary disputes, while exploring the ECB’s contribution to democratic monetary governance through respect for the rule of law. The author pays special attention to the ECB’s role in protecting human rights, specifically considering the trend towards a so-called “humane approach” to monetary management, which has significant consequences for the preservation of monetary stability as a public good. Using the dogmatic, comparative, and axiological methods, the author aims to highlight the main dilemmas in this area from the perspective of de lege lata and possibly offer certain guidelines for de lege ferenda.

The scientific article is devoted to the study of the principles of independence and accountability in the activities of the European Central Bank and the central bank of the EU member state. The article focuses attention on Art. 108 and Art. 109 of the Treaty on the Establishment of the European Community, which is an integral part of the Treaty on the European Union, which contain norms according to which both the European Central Bank and the central banks of the EU member states must be independent, and on the national legislation of the EU member states and Ukraine, according to which national banks are economically independent bodies. It was established that the principle of independence in the activities of the European Central Bank presupposes the absence of external and internal influence on the part of EU institutions, their employees, members of the governments of the EU member states on decision-making by the European Central Bank, but the principle of independence in the activities of the European Central Bank does not include the prohibition of free exchange opinions between the above­mentioned subjects and the European Central Bank within the framework of the existing EU institutional mechanism. Doctrinal approaches to the principles of independence and accountability in the activities of national banks of states are analyzed. It is argued that the degree of independence of one or another branch of state power cannot be an object for comparison with the central bank of the state, since this contradicts the content of the very principle of independence of one or another branch of government, and also levels the system of checks and balances as such - the Central Bank of the State does not belong to any of the three branches of state power and is not the fourth branch of power, although it is a special central body of state administration. The central bank of the state cannot be isolated from other bodies of state power - on the contrary, in the balancing of state powers between the bodies of state power, its importance is no less important, but this does not give grounds for classifying it as one of the three branches state power to separate into the fourth branch of power. It has been established that in the legal literature the principle of independence in the activities of the Central Bank of the State is identified with functional and/or legal autonomy. An argument is given that refutes this approach. The principle of independence in the activity of the Central Bank of the EU member state is characterized. It was established that the principle of accountability corresponds to the principle of independence in the activities of the Central Bank of the State. This principle is characterized.

The subject matter of analysis in this paper is the cohesion policy in the discourse of the Law of the European Central Bank (ECB), which will be reviewed for the purpose of establishing changes in the values and principles of cohesion policy which significantly redefined the postulates of the contemporary EU monetary legislation in the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In that regard, the paper aims to analytically examine the characteristics and qualitative influence of the tendency to “humanize” the contemporary monetary legislation, as well as the sophisticated modus operandi of shaping the monetary authority by public law in the architecture of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). By applying the dogmatic, axiological, and comparative law method, the author identifies the greatest dilemmas encountered by the European legislator in the context of adjusting the ECB regulatory activity and its primary tasks to the principles of cohesion policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a noted rise in research examining the influence of digital transformation—specifically the application of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) on the progression of the financial sector. This paper presents conclusions from a study on participants' awareness, understanding, and intentions regarding cryptocurrencies and the Digital Euro. Participants have a relatively high awareness of digital assets and Digital Euro, but better understanding is needed through effective communication and educational initiatives. While recognizing cryptocurrencies as valuable investments, participants are skeptical about their use for payments due to concerns about illicit activities. Regulatory frameworks are deemed important to address these concerns. Participants support the introduction of the Digital Euro and intend to use it for various purposes, suggesting potential demand. Desired characteristics include privacy, ease of use, and cross-border usability. These findings inform the strategies for introducing and accepting the Digital Euro, promoting financial inclusion, and enhancing accessibility in Europe's digital economy.

Worldwide, inflation is one of the most used terms when discussing the economy and beyond. Inflation is the indicator that governments, the population, financial entities, investors and not least monetary authorities are interested in. Since central banks have price stability as their main objective or not, they act through monetary policies when necessary. Monetary decisions in the Eurozone and the United States - as financially important regions - influence other economies. This paper focuses on the study of the evolution of the inflation rate in these two cases because of the importance of the subject. It will be found that inflation can also be a challenge for these large financial entities – Federal Reserve System and European Central Bank.

In its 2021 strategy review, the European Central Bank's Governing Council unanimously decided to make climate change one of its priorities for the coming years. In this article, we try to understand how this change was achieved. To do so, we rely on mixed methods, studying ECB policies, speeches, exchanges with the European Parliament, and conducting semi-structured interviews. We present a detailed account of the rapid changes within the ECB regarding the climate challenge, and attempt to unpack its conditions of possibility. We show that climate integration results from the combination and hybridisation of internal dynamics and external pressures. On the one hand, the renewal of the Executive Board and modifications in organisational dynamics secured a growing coalition for a change. On the other, pressures from politicians, NGOs, academics and citizens pushed the institution to develop its expertise and provided willing insiders with further argumentative resources to push their green agenda. While these two intertwined dynamics have allowed 'green doves' to forge a consensus around the climate action plan, disagreements remain within the Governing Council on the scope and shape of future greening efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the undertaken research is an attempt to explain, on theoretical and empirical grounds, the interdependence between central bank communication, its transparency credibility and,consequently, the effectiveness of monetary policy pursued by central banks. The study used research methods based on the literature analysis on the subject in the field of banking and finance, as well as statistical and econometric methods (Granger causality analysis and the generalised linear model – GLM). Literature studies are aimed at answering the question of what is the relationship between the transparency, credibility of the central bank and the effectiveness of monetary policy in theoretical terms. However, the empirical research studies aim to confirm the hypothesis (H0) or reject the hypothesis (H1) about the causal relationships between the variables mentioned. Empirical analyses were conducted on the example of the European Central Bank, which, from the point of view of its monetary policy, is characterised by relatively high efficiency, relatively effectively stabilising inflation in the monetary union. All statistics used in the study were taken from databases of the International Monetary Fund (IMF World Economic Outlook), the European Union statistical office (Eurostat) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (OECD Data). The analysis covers the period from 2010 to 2022 based on monthly data. The results of the research confirmed the existence of the null hypothesis (i.e., the significant impact of communication, transparency and credibility of the European Central Bank on the effectiveness of monetary policy in the Euro area). The results of the conducted research may be a starting point for further, more in-depth research on the relationship between communication, transparency, credibility and effectiveness of central banks in countries with different levels of economic development.

Is the European Central Bank (ECB) increasingly acting on political – rather than technocratic – considerations? This question is of a central concern to students of European Union (EU) political economy. This article contributes to this debate by studying the ECB's credit lines to the central banks of EU member states outside the Euro Area during the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 crisis. Both times the ECB accorded selectively better borrowing conditions to some central banks. The article finds that its selection of who gets favourable borrowing terms has indeed become more political. In 2008, the ECB decided the credit terms based on technocratic criteria, but twelve years later, it granted better lending conditions to countries that were close to adopting the euro. How the ECB balances its mandate for price stability in the Euro Area and its role as a supranational EU institution decides whether it will become more politicised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central bank communication plays a crucial role in the conduct of monetary policy, yet the research on central bank communication, while growing, is still scarce. In this paper, we analyze the communication reaction function of the European Central Bank (ECB) through topic-based indices derived from the bank’s speeches. These indices are used as dependent variables in policy and communication reaction function models, as suggested by recent literature. The topics are extracted using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a popular text mining algorithm for topic extraction. The ECB has recently reviewed its monetary policy strategy, which led to an increase in studies incorporating the new methods offered by text mining for analyzing the policy reaction function of the bank. We show how indices built through topic modelling can be used to study the communication reaction function of a central bank, and we examine which variables are significant for every topic communicated by the ECB.

Amidst climate change, central banks’ roles have broadened, encompassing new responsibilities beyond tradition through widening interventions. This expansion offers institutional prospects yet could entail reputational risks in reconciling long-standing and evolving responsibilities. Despite widening interventions’ reputational risks, a comprehensive understanding of how these shape banks’ behaviour – preserving existing reputations, fostering new ones, or achieving a compatible integration of both – is lacking. To obtain a better understanding of these dynamics, we draw on bureaucratic reputation theory to examine the climate engagement of the European Central Bank (ECB). Utilising a three-fold frame analysis, we examine the ECB’s communication about its greening agenda, complemented by interview data from stakeholders. Our analysis indicates that the reputation management strategy of the ECB, amidst widening interventions, encompasses the simultaneous presence of three frames – prudence, promotion, and strategic ambiguity. Leveraging the three frames, the ECB engages in reputational pragmatism to navigate diverse audience expectations, conflicting priorities, and mitigate potential reputational risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]