Opinion of the European Central Bank at the request of the Council of the European Union on a recommendation for a Council Decision concerning exchange rate matters relating to the Cape Verde escudo (CON/98/57)
15. 7. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 200/7 the arrangements for the negotiation and conclusion of monetary or foreign exchange regime agreements with foreign States. In this regard, the ECB draws attention to the fact the Treaty these arrangements shall ensure that the Community expresses a single position. that under Article 109(3) of shall France inform the European only Decision Commission and the Economic and Financial Committee in advance of modifications to the agreements to the extent that the nature or scope of the agreements remain unchanged. The ECB considers that the ECB should be directly included in all aspects of the process for the same reasons as set forth in paragraph 4 above. the competent French authorities 5. Furthermore, while Article 3 of the draft Decision provides shall keep the that European Commission, the ECB and the Economic and Financial Committee informed on a regular basis about the implementation of the agreements, the French auth- orities shall only inform the European Commission and the Economic and Financial Committee prior to changes the partity between the euro and the CFA franc or of Comorian franc. In addition, under Article 4 of the draft 6. This Opinion will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Done at Frankfurt am Main, 22 September 1998. The Vice-President of the ECB C. NOYER OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK at the request of the Council of the European Union on a recommendation for a Council Decision concerning exchange rate matters relating to the Cape Verde escudo (CON/98/57) (1999/C 200/06) 1. On 11 December 1998 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Council of the European Union for an opinion on a proposal for a Council Decision on the abovementioned topic (hereinafter referred to as the draft Decision). Document COM(1998) 663 final dated 18 november 1998, containing the draft Decision and an explanatory memorandum, was transmitted to the ECB. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on the second subparagraph of Article 109l(1) in conjuntion with Article 109(3) of the Treaty establishing the European Community (hereinafter In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17. 5 of the this opinion has been the ECB, Rules of Procedure of adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB. referred to as the Treaty). escudo. The draft Decision provides Portuguese that Portugal and Cape Verde shall retain sole responsibility for the implementation of this agreement. The draft Decision also provides for various procedural requirements on the part of to the the Portuguese authorities with respect implementation of Portugal’s present agreement with Cape Verde, the negotiation and conclusion of modifications to this agreement and the submission of any plans to change the nature and scope of the agreement. In fact, the draft Decision is, to a large extent, similar to an earlier Decision concerning exchange rate matters relating to the CFA franc and the Comorian franc, on which the ECB was consulted on 24 July 1998 and on which it delivered an opinion on 22 September 1998 (CON/98/37; in this opinion also referred to as the French caseí). 2. The draft Decision provides that Portugal may continue its present agreement concerning exchange rate matters with the euro for the Cape Verde upon the substitution of 3. The ECB notes with satisfaction that its observations with regard to the above Decision in the French case have also been incorporated into the present draft Decision. C 200/8 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 15. 7. 1999 - Recital 7 stresses that the agreement, and any modifi- cations thereto, do not impose any obligations on the ECB and the national central banks (NCBs) to support the convertibility of the Cape Verde escudo. the modification or that - Recital 10 emphasises implementation of shall be without the agreement prejudice to the primary objective of the Community’s in exchange rate policy to maintain price stability, accordance with Article 3a(2) of the Treaty. However, the ECB also notes that Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the draft Decision do not fully incorporate the ECB’s obser- vations on the ECB’s consultative role under the Treaty as laid down in the ECB’s Opinion CON/98/37, but that the draft Decision in this respect at the same time mirrors the Decision in the French case, which reflects at least a part of the ECB’s observations. 4. This opinion will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. - Recital 13 states that the draft Decision does not establish a precedent in respect of any arrangements that may be decided in the future with regard to the negotiation and conclusion of agreements concerning monetary or foreign exchange rate matters by the Community with other States or international organisations. similar Done at Frankfurt am Main, 17 December 1998. The President of the ECB Willem F. DUISENBERG