Do not confuse the Central Bank with the Environment Agency

EPP Group Members in the Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs warn against "overstretching the mandate" of the European Central Bank, when aiming to reduce CO2 emissions in Europe.

"We must not confuse the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Environment Agency (EEA), and we should be very clear: the ECB’s mandate is price stability,” said Agnès Evren MEP and Markus Ferber MEP after today's vote in the Committee.

MEPs voted today on an annual report assessing the Central Bank's policy, while the ECB’s Governing Council meets on the same day to discuss upcoming Monetary Policy.

"The Green Deal is a very important European project. We must put Europe's joint efforts into this and use all appropriate instruments to make our economy more climate-friendly. But this cannot jeopardise the stability of our European currency," said MEP Evren.

MEP Ferber is ready to review certain ECB goals. “We should discuss whether the inflation target of close to two percent is still relevant for today. In light of demographic changes, the demand for safe assets and the change towards a service economy, there is good reason to review the ECB’s current definition of price stability. A more realistic inflation goal would prevent the ECB from having to pump billions into the market each month in order to chase an elusive target," said the MEP.

MEP Evren negotiated the Parliamentary report on behalf of the EPP Group. MEP Ferber is the EPP Group speaker in Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary affairs.