Monetary Law Blog

The application of multilingualism in the European Union context

ECB Legal Working Paper series / No. 2 / March 2006 / by Phoebus Athanassiou

 

Abstract

 

On 1 May 2004, 10 more countries acceded to the European Union (EU), bringing the total number of Member States to 25, increasing the EU’s population to over 450 million and, last but not least, nearly doubling the number of the official languages of the EU.

 

The recent enlargement, a cornerstone in the continuing process of European integration, poses unprecedented challenges, also because of its linguistic implications for the EU and for the language regime applicable to the Community Institutions. In the case of the ECB, this challenge is all the more evident due to the very short deadlines within which some of its operational decisions need to be taken and implemented and the practical implications that their adoption in all the official languages of the EU would entail.

 

This paper is divided in two Parts.

 

Part I provides an overview of the rationale and of the legal basis underlying the EU’s current language policy, outlining the language regime applicable to the Community Institutions and bodies and discusses exceptions and limitations to multilingualism associated with the particular situation of Member States with more than one official language or stemming from some recent case-law on the Institutions’ language regime.

 

Part II examines the issue of the name of the single currency and some of the reasons underlying the ECB’s stance on proposed national variations in its spelling.

 

See previous contribution on the ECB Legal Working Paper series.

 

Download LWP No. 2 (pdf, 928 kb)

Conference on The Legal Foundations of International Monetary Stability

27-28 April 2006 (Queen Mary, University of London, Centre for Commercial Law Studies)

Venue: London School of Economics

 

This conference is the first in a series of events dedicated in the area of Regulation and Financial stability that are organised with the support of the Economic and Social Research Council. The series will build on the established FMG London Financial Regulation seminar, which has run since 1999.

 

The ultimate purpose of these events is to clarify the principles on which financial regulation should be based, and to advance practical proposals for improving the organisation and conduct of such regulation.

 

The Legal Foundations of International Monetary Stability conference (based upon Dr Lastra’s forthcoming book to be published by Oxford University Press in June 2006) will look at the area of monetary law and financial regulation and aims to bring an interdisciplinary debate to developments at the national, European and international level.

 

Some of the questions to be addressed at the conference are:

• The challenges confronting the euro
• The definition of financial stability
• The liability of financial supervisors
• How to operate a European system of financial supervisors
• Independence and accountability of central banks
• The role of the IMF in the 21st century

Organisers: Dr Rosa M Lastra and Professor Charles Goodhart

 

The conference programme is now available.

 

For contact information follow this link.

The developing EU Legal Framework for Clearing and Settlement of Financial Instruments

ECB Legal Working Paper series / No. 1 / February 2006 / by Klaus Löber

 

Abstract

 

Traditionally, clearing and settlement of financial instruments has not been the focus of general attention, even though it is at the heart of any financial system. The ongoing integration of financial markets, and in particular the process of creating a single market for financial services in the European Union (EU), has put in the spotlight the importance of clearing and settlement. Weaknesses in the clearing and settlement infrastructure can have serious consequences for the financial sector as a whole. In view of this, the European Commission has given high priority to removing the barriers to efficient cross border clearing and settlement in the single market. Clearing and settlement depends to a large extent on the legal infrastructure on which it is built. Clear and effective legal rules are a prerequisite for building market confidence, fostering investor protection and limiting and managing systemic risk. A modern and efficient legal framework in the EU will not only enhance the safety, soundness and efficiency of the clearing and settlement of financial instruments, it will also promote the further integration and competitiveness of European financial markets.

 

This paper presents and evaluates the existing EU legislative framework. Furthermore, the paper describes current EU initiatives to remove barriers to efficient clearing and settlement, with a specific focus on the legal aspects and, in particular, on the activities of the Legal Certainty Group. Finally, it compares the European initiatives with parallel efforts to harmonise laws on a global scale and gives an outlook as to how the acquis communautaire could evolve in the short to medium term.

 

See previous contribution on the ECB Legal Working Paper series.

 

Download LWP No. 1 (pdf, 922 kb)

ECB launches Legal Working Paper series

The European Central Bank (ECB) has launched the publication of a Legal Working Paper series. The objective of the Legal Working Paper series is to disseminate to a wide audience, including policy-makers, the academia and the general public, the results of legal research and reflections on legal theory in areas of relevance to the tasks and policy concerns of the ECB and the ESCB and to the institutional interest of the ECB.

Contributions to the Legal Working Paper series constitute ‘work in progress’, circulated to stimulate discussion and contribute to the development of Community law, monetary law and financial law.

The contributors to the Legal Working Paper series are lawyers from within the ECB, as well as lawyers who have otherwise contributed to the ECB’s legal activities. All authors publish in their name.

Go to the Legal Working Paper series.

(Source: www.ecb.int)