Search Options
Home Media Explainers Research & Publications Statistics Monetary Policy The €uro Payments & Markets Careers
Suggestions
Sort by
© Bernd Hartung/ECB

Tasks

The Eurosystem – which consists of the ECB and the national central banks of the euro area – carries out a number of tasks to maintain price stability.

Our objective

Our main aim is to maintain price stability, i.e. to safeguard the value of the euro. Price stability is essential for economic growth and job creation – two of the European Union’s objectives – and it represents the most important contribution monetary policy can make in that area.

ECB missionEurosystem mission

The Eurosystem is responsible for:

  • defining and implementing monetary policy
  • conducting foreign exchange operations
  • holding and managing the euro area’s foreign currency reserves
  • promoting the smooth operation of payment systems

The ECB carries out specific tasks in the areas of banking supervision, banknotes, statistics, macroprudential policy and financial stability as well as international and European cooperation.

All pages in this section

Our website uses cookies

We use functional cookies to store user preferences; analytics cookies to improve website performance; third-party cookies set by third-party services integrated into the website.

You have the choice to accept or reject them. For more information or to review your preference on the cookies and server logs we use, we invite you to:

Read our privacy statement

Learn more about how we use cookies