The 10 years of the European System of Central Banks

6 de Julho de 2009 - Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian Lisboa

Organização conjunta Instituto Europeu da Faculdade de Direito de Lisboa/IDEFF

European Institute of Lisbon Law University/
Instituto Europeu da Faculdade de Direito de Lisboa

Economic Financial and Tax Law Institute of Lisbon Law University/Instituto de Direito Económico Financeiro e Fiscal da Faculdade de Direito de Lisboa

(in collaboration with the Portuguese Academy of Science of Lisbon – Department of Economy)

(with the support of the Bank of Portugal/Banco de Portugal, of Luso-American Development Foundation/Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento and of the Jacques Delors European Information Centre/ Centro de Informação Europeia Jacques Delors)

Seminar

“The 10 years of the European System of Central Banks”

July 6, 2009

At the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation – Lisbon

Coordinators: Prof. Doutor Paulo de Pitta e Cunha
                    Prof. Doutor Eduardo Paz Ferreira
               Prof. Doutor Luís D. S. Morais
Organisation Committee: Luís Máximo dos Santos
                Sérgio Gonçalves do Cabo
            Nuno Cunha Rodrigues

Presentation

The European Central Bank (ECB) was established on the 1^st of June 1998. The ECB was drawn up as a the highest entity of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), composed by the ECB and the national central banks of all Member States of the European Union, and governed by the decision-making bodies of the ECB: the General Council, the Governing Council and the Executive Board.
The fact that Monetary Union does not include all Member States of the European Union gave birth to an important distinction between the ESCB and the Eurosystem: all National Central Banks participate in the ESCB, but only those that have adopted the euro participate in the Eurosystem. This division between States that have adopted the euro (16 States), States with derogations (9 States) and States covered by opting in and opting out protocols (2 States) originated a much diversified chart of the ESCB, which supports different perspectives of analysis.
Apart from each one’s assessment of the policy-making and governance of the Eurosystem during these past 10 years, it is important to set out its future for the next ten years. It is an anticipation of the next 10 years of the ESCB, Eurosystem and the opting in and opting out States that we pretend to carry out in this seminar, knowing from the outset that it is a difficult exercise but, simultaneously, a stimulating one, in a crisis of the so-called credit based economies.
Reflecting on the current state of the European and worldwide economy and trying to ascertain the future of the ESCB in its different elements – including those involving financial stability and financial supervision - at a time of economic crisis, of institutional reform and after the European Parliament elections, is the aim of this seminar. It will also give the European Institute of the Law School of the University of Lisbon (IE) and the Economic Financial and Tax Law of Lisbon Law University (IDEFF) the opportunity to celebrate the first decade of the establishment of the ECB and of the ESCB, therefore continuing a tradition of interest for this subject matter and, in a more broader perspective, for the area of the studies on the monetary integration and European integration.
For that purpose, we intend to prepare a “special edition” of the Revista de Estudos Europeus or a separate monograph based on the interventions of the Seminar.

Preliminary Program

9h45- Opening Session

I – ESCB, Eurosystem, opting in and opting out States
10h00– 1^st Session
Moderator: Luís Silva Morais, Professor of the Law School of the University of Lisbon

The Experience of the Bank of Portugal within the framework of the Eurosystem
José Agostinho Martins de Matos
Vice-Governor of Banco de Portugal

The Eurosystem and the enlargement process of the European Union: is there any obligation to adopt the euro?
Sérgio Gonçalves do Cabo
Master of Law / Lisbon Law University
Member of the Legal Services of the ECB (1998-2001)

11h00 – Debate

11h15 – Coffee-break
11h30 – 2^nd Session
Moderator: José Luís da Cruz Vilaça, Professor of the Law School of the New University

Decision-making processes in the framework of the ESCB
Jorge Santos
Member of the Working Group of Legal Experts (WGLE) of the EMI (1994-1998)
Member of the Legal Committee (LEGCO) of the ESCB (1998-2009)

The Eurosystem and the Treaty of Lisbon
Luís Silva Morais
Law Professor/Lisbon Law University
Attorney-at-Law
Member of the Board of Instituto de Seguros de Portugal (1998-2001)

12h30 – Debate

13h00 – Lunch break
14h30 – 3^rd Session
II – The Eurosystem, the international crisis and financial supervision
Moderator: Gil Galvão, Vice-President of the Constitutional Court

Global financial crisis: national, regional and supranational solutions - Measures to face the needs of liquidity of the financial system (The Federal Reserve System Perspective)
Andrea Tokheim
Senior Legal Counsel of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (USA)

What role could the ECB play in the context of a new model of financial supervision at the European level?
Mauro Grande
Director – Directorate of Financial Stability and Supervision of the ECB

Which model of supervision of the financial sector at the European level?
Jose Nunes Pereira
Chairman of the Portuguese Securities Commission (CMVM)
(1996-2000)

Models for a possible European financial supervision
René Smits
Law and Economics Professor / University of Amsterdam

16h30 – Debate

16h45 – Coffee-break

17h00 – 4^th Session
III – The Portuguese economy in the context of the EMU
Moderator: Eduardo Paz Ferreira, Professor of the Law School of the University of Lisbon

1.     The Portuguese economic crisis and the international crisis
Paulo de Pitta e Cunha
Law Professor / Lisbon Law University

2.     The Portuguese economy in the context of EMU
António de Sousa
Professor/Economic School of Lisbon New University
Former Governor of the Bank of Portugal (1994-2001)

3.     Monetary policy and the single currency: which reforms?
João Sousa Andrade
Professor / Economic School of Coimbra University

18h30 – Debate

18h45 – Closing Remarks

Fernando Teixeira dos Santos
Minister of Finance and Public Administration (to be confirmed)

Pedro Romano Martinez
President of the Scientific Council of the Law School of the University of Lisbon
Professor / Law Shcool of the University of Lisbon

Information and registration until 2 July (limited seats available): Instituto Europeu da Faculdade de Direito de Lisboa, Tel.: 21 7933250/ Fax: 21 7942592 / E-mail: institutoeuropeu@fd.ul.pt / Site: www.institutoeuropeu.eu / www.ideff.pt