Schedules for the meetings of the Governing Council and the General Council of the ECB and the related press conferences in 2006

The Governing Council has decided that in the year 2006 its meetings will continue to be held, as a rule, on a Thursday in the first and third week of each month.

As announced on 8 November 2001, the stance of the ECB's monetary policy will continue to be assessed by the Governing Council, as a rule, only at the first meeting of the month. Accordingly, interest rate decisions will normally be taken during that meeting. Whenever it holds a second meeting in the month, the Governing Council will deal with issues related to other tasks and responsibilities of the ECB and the Eurosystem. Obviously, if warranted by the circumstances, the Governing Council can still decide to change the key ECB interest rates at any time, regardless of previously scheduled meetings. The meeting on 31 August 2006 will include a monetary policy discussion, in place of an early September meeting and, therefore, a press release on the ECB’s monetary policy decisions will be issued on 31 August 2006. Furthermore, a press conference will also be held on that day. The meeting schedule of the Governing Council in 2006 also takes into account that reserve maintenance periods will start on the settlement day of the main refinancing operation (MRO) following the Governing Council meeting at which the monthly assessment of the monetary policy stance is pre-scheduled.

Also in line with established practice, two meetings of the Governing Council will again be held outside Frankfurt: the first one on 8 June 2006 will be hosted by the Banco de España and the second one on 5 October 2006 by the Banque de France.

The General Council has decided that the current practice of having quarterly meetings is to be maintained.

Finally, the current regime for holding press conferences will continue, i.e. they will take place after the Governing Council meeting during which interest rate decisions will normally be taken, with the exception of the meeting on 3 August 2006.