EU, Ungarn og artikel 130

Aha. Ledte efter dette:

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso asked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán yesterday (20 December) to withdraw legislation that could threaten the central bank's independence. (...)

According to the Wall Street Journal, Barroso was referring to the Hungarian government's plans to reshape the structure of the central bank by designating a third deputy governor and also raising the number of members in the Monetary Policy Council.

The newspaper quoted National Bank of Hungary Governor András Simor as saying that these elements of the legislation could serve no other purpose than to increase government influence on monetary policy.

The Commission has serious doubts about the compatibility of the Magyar Nemzety Bank (Hungarian National Bank) bills with Article 130 of the Lisbon Treaty on the independence of the European Central Bank, Hansen said. She added that Barroso also expressed his regrets that the last drafts of these laws were not subject to prior consultation with the ECB, which had repeatedly expressed its concerns.

Article 130 says that neither the ECB nor a national central bank, nor any member of their decision-making bodies, shall seek or take instructions from Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, from any government of a member state or from any other body.

Mere senere.

Centralbanker er vigtige

En mand på BBC skriver noget fornuftigt om, at centralbanker er del af staten, og derfor måske, muligvis, bør underlægges demokratisk kontrol.

Der er mange ting, som Ungarns regering kan kritiseres for. Men netop politisk indflydelse på centralbanken synes jeg er meget fornuftigt, så det er lidt sjovt, at det netop er det, IMF og EU finder på at kritisere først. Lige nu er problemet, at Ungarn bliver nødt til at indføre kapitalkontrol - dvs. kontrol af og tilsyn med, hvor mange penge der føres ind og ud af landet - for at overleve stormen, der sikkert vil følge. Det har man naturligvis ikke lov til i EU.

Centralbanker i dag, og ECB i særdeleshed, fører de riges politik - frem for alt at banker og obligationsejere beskyttes mod tab. Det er på høje tid, at man indfører demokrati i Europa. Men folkeafstemninger ved vi, hvad EU synes om.