Schedules for the meetings of the Governing Council and the General Council of the ECB and the related press conferences in 2007

The Governing Council has decided that in the year 2007 its meetings will continue to be held, in general, 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 schedule of the Governing Council for 2007 also takes into account the fact that reserve maintenance periods will start on the settlement day of the main refinancing operation (MRO) following the Governing Council meeting for which the monthly assessment of the monetary policy stance is scheduled.

Also in line with established practice, two meetings of the Governing Council will again be held outside Frankfurt: the first one, on 10 May 2007, will be hosted by the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland, and the second one, on 4 October 2007, will be hosted by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank.

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 are normally taken.

11 January 2007

8 February 2007

22 February 2007

8 March 2007

22 March 2007

12 April 2007

26 April 2007

10 May 2007 (Dublin)

24 May 2007

6 June 2007

21 June 2007

5 July 2007

19 July 2007

2 August 2007

6 September 2007

20 September 2007

4 October 2007 (Vienna)

25 October 2007

8 November 2007

22 November 2007

6 December 2007

20 December 2007

10 January 2008

22 March 2007

21 June 2007

20 September 2007

20 December 2007

11 January 2007

8 February 2007

8 March 2007

12 April 2007

10 May 2007 (Dublin)

6 June 2007

5 July 2007

6 September 2007

4 October 2007 (Vienna)

8 November 2007

6 December 2007

10 January 2008