EN
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 5 July 2007
at the request of the Council of the European Union on the opening of an Intergovernmental
Conference to draw up a Treaty amending the existing Treaties
(CON/2007/20)
1. On 27 June 2007, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Council of the
European Union for an opinion on the opening of a conference of representatives of the
governments of the Member States (Intergovernmental Conference or IGC) to draw up a Treaty
amending the existing Treaties (Reform Treaty).
2.
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 48 of the Treaty on European
Union. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the ECB,
the Governing Council of the ECB has adopted this Opinion.
3.
The mandate of the IGC was agreed by the Brussels European Council of 21-23 June 2007 and is
attached as an Annex to the Presidency Conclusions (IGC Mandate). The IGC Mandate states that
it is the exclusive basis and framework for the IGC1. The IGC is mandated to draw-up a Reform
Treaty which will introduce the innovations resulting from the 2004 IGC into the Treaty on
European Union (TEU) and into the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) which is
to be renamed the Treaty on the Functioning of the Union (TFU)2.
4.
The ECB welcomes the opening of the IGC. The ECB understands that, except as indicated in the
IGC Mandate, the text of the TEU will remain unchanged3. In particular, the ECB welcomes the
confirmation in the IGC Mandate that price stability is one of the Union’s objectives4 and that
monetary policy is expressly listed as one of the Union’s exclusive competences. The ECB also
welcomes the revision of the article on the Union’s objectives so as to include the establishment of
an economic and monetary union whose currency is the euro5.
5.
The IGC Mandate specifically refers to improvements to the governance of the euro, stating that