European Central Bank – annual report 2024

Amendments tabled for the plenary sitting on this text, in their own numbering series. This is a different set from the committee amendments tracked elsewhere on AmendEU, and is not counted in any of the site’s amendment totals.

1. Amendment 1The LeftMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 18
   Current text

   18. Stresses that supply shocks, primarily originating from external sources, were among the key drivers of the inflation surges; recognises that monetary policy has a more direct effect on inflation levels when it stems primarily from demand factors rather than supply factors;

   Amendment

   18. Stresses that supply shocks, primarily originating from external sources, were among the key drivers of the inflation surges; notes that, in such circumstances, monetary policy alone is not sufficient to ease price pressures; stresses therefore the importance of strengthening the EU’s economy via active industrial and fiscal policy;

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2. Amendment 2The LeftMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 26 a (new)
   Amendment

   26a. Highlights the expected benefits of a public digital euro, such as improved financial inclusion, enhanced resilience of the payment system, reduced costs for merchants, and a reliable offline backup payment system; expresses concern, at the same time, about the dependence of the European payment system on non-European payment service providers;

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3. Amendment 3The LeftMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 39 a (new)
   Amendment

   39a. Highlights the need for an environmentally sustainable monetary policy in the form of, for example, green refinancing operations;

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4. Amendment 4ECRMotion for a resolution · Recital B
   Current text

   B. whereas, according to the December 2024 Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area, HICP inflation is projected to decline to 2.1 % in 2025, 1.9 % in 2026, and to increase to 2.1 % in 20275; _________________ 5 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/projections/html/ecb.projections202412_eurosystemstaff~71a06224a5.en.html#toc6.

   Amendment

   B. whereas, according to the December 2024 Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area, HICP inflation is projected to decline to 2.1 % in 2025, 1.9 % in 2026, and to increase to 2.1 % in 20275; whereas inflation projections show substantial variance across the euro area; _________________ 5 https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/projections/html/ecb.projections202412_eurosystemstaff~71a06224a5.en.html#toc6.

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5. Amendment 5ECRMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 26
   Current text

   26. Welcomes the ECB’s progress on the digital euro project and its ongoing dialogue with Parliament; underscores that the digital euro should deliver clear added value to European citizens, including enhanced strategic autonomy in payments, a higher level of competition in the retail payment market, potential to foster innovation in payments and finance, improved financial inclusion and a reliable offline backup payment system; calls on the ECB to clearly communicate these benefits in order to foster public trust and awareness; notes that the EU co-legislators will need to strike the right balance, among others, on holding limits, privacy concerns, competition with private payment solutions…

   Amendment

   26. Notes the ECB’s progress on the digital euro project and welcomes its ongoing dialogue with Parliament; underscores that any digital euro should deliver clear added value to European citizens, including enhanced strategic autonomy in payments, a higher level of competition in the retail payment market, potential to foster innovation in payments and finance, improved financial inclusion and a reliable offline backup payment system; calls on the ECB to clearly demonstrate these benefits before the EU co-legislators decide whether or not to introduce a digital euro that strikes the right balance, among others, on holding limits, privacy concerns, competition with private payment solutions a…

   Excerpt — full text in the official PDF.
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6. Amendment 6ECRMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 28
   Current text

   28. Reiterates that the digital euro will serve as complement to physical cash, that it should not replace cash and that cash will remain widely available and accessible at all times in order to ensure a plurality of means of payment; welcomes, in that context, the proposal for a regulation on the use of euro cash as legal tender;

   Amendment

   28. Reiterates that cash should remain widely available and accessible at all times in order to ensure a plurality of means of payment; welcomes, in that context, the proposal for a regulation on the use of euro cash as legal tender;

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7. Amendment 7RenewMotion for a resolution · Citation 8
   Current text

   – having regard to Eurostat’s inflation estimate of 18 December 2024,

   Amendment

   – having regard to Eurostat’s inflation estimate of 3 February 2025,

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8. Amendment 8RenewMotion for a resolution · Citation 10
   Current text

   – having regard to the World Economic Outlook of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of October 2024,

   Amendment

   – having regard to the World Economic Outlook of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of January 2025,

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9. Amendment 9RenewMotion for a resolution · Recital A
   Current text

   A. whereas, according to Eurostat, harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) inflation reached a level of 2.2 % in the euro area in November 2024;

   Amendment

   A. whereas, according to Eurostat, harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) inflation reached a level of 2.4 % in the euro area in December 2024;

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10. Amendment 10RenewMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 9
    Current text

    9. Regrets that core inflation still remains high in the euro area (2.7 % in November 2024), with only one euro area Member State reporting core inflation rates below 2 % in November 2024; recalls that this situation generates economic uncertainty, discourages savings and increases citizens’ living costs, particularly affecting those on fixed and limited incomes;

    Amendment

    9. Regrets that core inflation still remains high in the euro area (2.7 % in December 2024), with only three euro area Member States reporting core inflation rates below 2 % in December 2024; recalls that this situation generates economic uncertainty, discourages savings and increases citizens’ living costs, particularly affecting those on fixed and limited incomes;

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11. Amendment 11RenewMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 15
    Current text

    15. Strongly welcomes the fact that headline inflation has come down from its peak of 10.6 % in October 2022 to 2.2 % in November 2024;

    Amendment

    15. Strongly welcomes the fact that headline inflation has come down from its peak of 10.6 % in October 2022 to 2.4 % in December 2024;

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12. Amendment 12RenewMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 16
    Current text

    16. Welcomes the decrease in core inflation from its peak of 7.6 % in March 2023 to 2.7 % in November 2024, but expresses its unease at its historically and persistently high level; notes with concern that high core inflation could translate into higher headline inflation numbers;

    Amendment

    16. Welcomes the decrease in core inflation from its peak of 7.6 % in March 2023 to 2.7 % in December 2024, but expresses its unease at its historically and persistently high level; notes with concern that high core inflation could translate into higher headline inflation numbers;

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13. Amendment 13RenewMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 36
    Current text

    36. Insists that the ECB respect the market neutrality approach in its monetary operations;

    Amendment

    36. Calls on the ECB to respect the market neutrality approach in its monetary operations, while noting that the ECB acknowledges that market neutrality is an operational tool, rather than a legal requirement;

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14. Amendment 14The LeftMotion for a resolution · Citation 10 a (new)
    Amendment

    – having regard to the IMF study ‘Monetary Policy PassThrough to Interest Rates: Stylized Facts from 30 European Countries’,

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15. Amendment 15The LeftMotion for a resolution · Citation 12 a (new)
    Amendment

    – having regard to the Financial Times article ‘European banks to reward investors with bumper €123bn in payouts’1a, _________________ 1a Foy, Simon, ‘European banks to reward investors with bumper €123bn in payouts’, Financial Times, 23 January 2025 (www.ft.com/content/cfe4c11303b54cd5b61f1c5d7e98e281).

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16. Amendment 16The LeftMotion for a resolution · Citation 13 a (new)
    Amendment

    – having regard to the ECB article ‘Monetary Policy Transmission: Why Consumers’ Housing Situations Matter’ 1b _________________ 1b Baldassarri, Lorenzo, et al., ‘Monetary Policy Transmission: Why Consumers’ Housing Situations Matter’, European Central Bank, 3 October 2024 (www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2024/html/ecb.blog20241003~44069e813f.en.html).

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17. Amendment 17The LeftMotion for a resolution · Recital -A a (new)
    Amendment

    Aa. whereas the increases in reference interest rates determined by the ECB have had and continue to have damaging effects on the solvency of households, microenterprises and SMEs in countries where variable interest rates prevail;

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18. Amendment 18The LeftMotion for a resolution · Recital A a (new)
    Amendment

    Aa. whereas, in countries such as Spain, Portugal and Finland, variable-rate mortgages were particularly popular when consumers acquired their homes in the past; whereas those consumers were immediately affected by interest rate rises; whereas consumers with fixed-rate loans, on the other hand, only feel the impact of interest rate rises later and under certain conditions; whereas such variations within the euro area means that the transmission of monetary policy decisions is likely to be quicker in countries that have a higher percentage of variable-rate loans1c; whereas the situation has contributed to difficulties accessing housing in some countries1d; _________________ 1c Baldassarri, Lo…

    Excerpt — full text in the official PDF.
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19. Amendment 19The LeftMotion for a resolution · Recital A b (new)
    Amendment

    Ab. whereas a recent study by the International Monetary Fund1e shows that the pass-through of increased interest rates to consumers and businesses by the banking sector has been very heterogeneous, taking into account the sector concentration, the type of mortgage rate and the amount of mortgage borrowing families have, among other factors; _________________ 1e Beyer, R., Chen, R., Li, C., Misch, F., Ozturk, E., and Ratnovski, L., ‘Monetary Policy PassThrough to Interest Rates: Stylized Facts from 30 European Countries’, IMF working paper (WP/24/9), 2024.

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20. Amendment 20The LeftMotion for a resolution · Recital A c (new)
    Amendment

    Ac. whereas the dividends of European banks alone have exceeded pre-2008 levels and the rewards for shareholders are even greater if share buybacks are taken into account1f; _________________ 1f Foy, Simon, ‘European banks to reward investors with bumper €123bn in payouts’, Financial Times, 23 January 2025 (www.ft.com/content/cfe4c11303b54cd5b61f1c5d7e98e281).

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21. Amendment 21The LeftMotion for a resolution · Recital A d (new)
    Amendment

    Ad. whereas reference interest rate rises increase financial margins in the banking sector, especially where the greatest sector concentration can be found;

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22. Amendment 22The LeftMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 1 a (new)
    Amendment

    1a. Considers it imperative that the European Central Bank swiftly reverses the reference interest rate rises;

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23. Amendment 23The LeftMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 1 b (new)
    Amendment

    1b. Takes the view that, in the immediate future, banking sector profits should be used to cover of the impact of higher reference interest rates on mortgages;

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24. Amendment 24The LeftMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 6 a (new)
    Amendment

    6a. Takes the view that combating inflation should not entail squeezing demand or family incomes, but rather increasing salaries and pensions; regulating the prices of essential goods and services; combating speculation; taxing the profits of large economic groups and using the proceeds to promote development and social progress; boosting national output of both consumer goods and capital goods, including in the energy sector, making the most of renewable energies to guarantee greater energy sovereignty and stability in supply chains; promoting peace, the political resolution of conflicts and states’ sovereign development;

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25. Amendment 25The LeftMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 6 b (new)
    Amendment

    6b. Takes the view that the current socio-economic situation, an inevitable corollary of the ECB’s decision to make 10 consecutive interest rate rises, shows that the euro deprives states of the monetary, financial, exchange-rate and, to a large extent, budgetary policy instruments with which to promote a form of development that takes account of their specific national realities and the necessary responses to the social and economic problems that have arisen by stopping interest rates from being set that are suitable to improve families’ living standards and to develop the activity of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises;

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26. Amendment 26PfEMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 18
    Current text

    18. Stresses that supply shocks, primarily originating from external sources, were among the key drivers of the inflation surges; recognises that monetary policy has a more direct effect on inflation levels when it stems primarily from demand factors rather than supply factors;

    Amendment

    18. Stresses that supply shocks, primarily originating from irresponsible government policies, such as over-reliance on energy from unstable and unpredictable sources such as wind and solar, as well as political aversion to stable onshore energy sources, and worrying geopolitical developments, were among the key drivers of the inflation surges; recognises that monetary policy has a more direct effect on inflation levels when it stems primarily from demand factors rather than supply factors;

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27. Amendment 27PfEMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 26
    Current text

    26. Welcomes the ECB’s progress on the digital euro project and its ongoing dialogue with Parliament; underscores that the digital euro should deliver clear added value to European citizens, including enhanced strategic autonomy in payments, a higher level of competition in the retail payment market, potential to foster innovation in payments and finance, improved financial inclusion and a reliable offline backup payment system; calls on the ECB to clearly communicate these benefits in order to foster public trust and awareness; notes that the EU co-legislators will need to strike the right balance, among others, on holding limits, privacy concerns, competition with private payment solutions…

    Amendment

    26. Notes that the US President Donald Trump has recently issued a ‘digital financial technology’ executive order terminating all federal agencies’ work on a digital US dollar; recalls that the Bank of Canada, the Swedish Riksbank and the Danish Nationalbank have also discontinued their work on their respective central bank digital currencies (CBDCs); calls on the ECB and the Commission to take these developments into account in the ongoing preparatory process and in their ongoing dialogue with Parliament;

    Excerpt — full text in the official PDF.
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28. Amendment 28PfEMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 31
    Current text

    31. Calls on the ECB to prioritise robust privacy safeguards, establishing them as a gold standard for privacy for central bank digital currency (CBDC), to secure public confidence and address citizens’ concerns regarding data protection and autonomy;

    Amendment

    31. Calls on the ECB to prioritise robust privacy safeguards around the digital euro, in full compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 7.1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; insists that the exceptions to the right to personal data protection set out in Article 7.2 of the Charter should not apply to the ECB and the banking sector as regards data collected in connection with digital euro transactions; stresses that the privacy safeguards around the digital euro should become a gold standard for other financial institutions; insists t…

    Excerpt — full text in the official PDF.
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29. Amendment 29PfEMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 39
    Current text

    39. Calls on the ECB to use all its available tools to ensure that banks take all financial and external risks, including climate and geopolitical risks, seriously; welcomes the ECB’s activities to further enhance the Eurosystem’s risk assessment tools and capabilities in order to better include climate- and environment-related risks, particularly because climate change and extreme weather phenomena could lead to greater price volatility, especially in the agri-food sector; invites the ECB to continue its work on climate risk stress tests developed to assess the resilience of banks and corporations in the face of climate transition risk;

    Amendment

    39. Calls on the ECB to use all its available tools to ensure that banks take all financial and external risks seriously, including geopolitical risks and risks resulting from negative effects of the Green Deal on prices, in particular of commodities, and negative effects on employment that may arise if an unpragmatic approach is taken to the digital and green transition; welcomes the ECB’s activities to further enhance the Eurosystem’s risk assessment tools and capabilities in order to better include environment-related risks, in so far as they are properly quantified, especially in the agri-food sector;

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30. Amendment 30Verts/ALEMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 13 a (new)
    Amendment

    13a. Agrees with the ECB President’s statement that ‘investment in renewables, grids and storage will lead to lower and more stable energy prices’; underlines that reducing the EU’s dependence on imported fossil fuels and supporting domestically generated renewable energy will reduce the magnitude of energy-related price shocks, reinforcing EU competitiveness while contributing to the ECB’s price stability mandate; stresses, therefore, the convergence of price stability, climate and competitiveness objectives; invites the ECB to reflect on the synergies between monetary and energy policies in this regard;

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31. Amendment 31Verts/ALEMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 34 a (new)
    Amendment

    34a. Strongly supports the ECB’s membership of and active role in the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS); commends the Eurosystem for its active involvement in NGFS-related work;

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32. Amendment 32Verts/ALEMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 36
    Current text

    36. Insists that the ECB respect the market neutrality approach in its monetary operations;

    Amendment

    36. Notes the ECB’s acknowledgement that market neutrality is a voluntary operational tool, rather than a legal requirement;

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33. Amendment 33ESNMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 1
    Current text

    1. Welcomes the role of the ECB in safeguarding monetary and financial stability, which is a necessary precondition for growth and economic stability; underlines that the ECB is the institution responsible for maintaining price stability in the euro area in this regard; notes that, ‘without prejudice to the objective of price stability, the ESCB shall support the general economic policies in the Union’ as laid down in Article 127 TFEU;

    Amendment

    1. Regrets the high inflation within the EU that the ECB seems to have accepted or even normalised, as well as the internal monetary depreciation of the euro since its creation in 1999; also regrets the trend in the loss of value of the euro against the dollar;

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34. Amendment 34ESNMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 3
    Current text

    3. Highlights the importance of the ECB’s political independence, which should remain untouched; stresses that this independence requires the ECB to in turn refrain from taking political actions; welcomes the institutional cooperation, thereby stressing the importance of the corresponding level of accountability to Parliament;

    Amendment

    3. Highlights the importance of the ECB’s political independence, which should remain untouched; stresses that this independence requires the ECB to in turn refrain from taking political actions; welcomes the institutional cooperation, thereby stressing the importance of the corresponding level of accountability to Parliament; expresses concern about the joint op-ed by ECB President Christine Lagarde and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the Financial Times of 31 January 2025, as it signals that excessive proximity between the Commission and the ECB may be jeopardising the ECB’s political independence;

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35. Amendment 35ESNMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 6
    Current text

    6. Stresses that both the ECB’s monetary policy, delivering on its mandate, and fiscal policies, should work in tandem to help European citizens and households, as well as small businesses;

    Amendment

    6. Stresses that both the ECB’s monetary policy, delivering on its mandate, and fiscal policies, should work in tandem to help European citizens and households, as well as small businesses; expresses surprise and concern that the ECB does not also carry out intrinsic monitoring and surveillance of current euro area inflation data, but instead, relies entirely and exclusively on data from Eurostat, which is subordinated to the Commission, and despite repeated indications that inflation figures are systematically under-reported; emphasises the great danger of this one-source approach, as this data has far-reaching consequences and is sometimes subject to conflicting interests between citizens…

    Excerpt — full text in the official PDF.
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36. Amendment 36ESNMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 18
    Current text

    18. Stresses that supply shocks, primarily originating from external sources, were among the key drivers of the inflation surges; recognises that monetary policy has a more direct effect on inflation levels when it stems primarily from demand factors rather than supply factors;

    Amendment

    18. Stresses that supply shocks, primarily originating from external sources, were among the key drivers of the inflation surges; recognises that monetary policy has a more direct effect on inflation levels when it stems primarily from demand factors rather than supply factors; highlights the key aspect of monetary inflation – the neutrality of money – and the fact that M3 money supply in the euro area has more than tripled since 2002, while at the same time economic growth in the euro area, including the addition of new economies to the euro area, is substantially smaller than M3 money growth; emphasises that in a fiat money system the summed economic output of a currency area is the most i…

    Excerpt — full text in the official PDF.
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37. Amendment 37ESNMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 19
    Current text

    19. Welcomes the ECB’s efforts to regularly update its models; invites the ECB to continue reviewing and improving its models and their role in its policymaking in light of the subpar performance of the models in recent years, in order to learn from previous crises, particularly to better distinguish between demand-driven and supply-side sources of inflation; stresses that economic supply shocks can arise from many sources, among others geopolitical events, climate-related or natural disasters and cyberattacks;

    Amendment

    19. Notes the ECB’s efforts to regularly update its models; invites the ECB to continue reviewing and improving its models and their role in its policymaking in light of the subpar performance of the models in recent years, expresses surprise that while the ECB does not undertake any systematic intrinsic review of the validity of current and past inflation data, it does have internal departments that manage future inflation by means of forecasts and predictions based on repeatedly inaccurate macroeconomic models as part of its ‘macroeconomic projection’; expresses concern that this management via forecast models, despite their subpar performance in the past, is to be given even more weight i…

    Excerpt — full text in the official PDF.
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38. Amendment 38ESNMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 21
    Current text

    21. Supports the ECB’s decision to scale back its asset purchase programmes, so as to balance market liquidity conditions and inflation levels, in view of the excess liquidity in the market and decreased levels of inflation; welcomes the fact that the asset portfolio under the ECB’s purchasing programmes has been on a downward trend since 2023;

    Amendment

    21. Supports the ECB’s decision to scale back its asset purchase programmes, so as to balance market liquidity conditions and inflation levels, in view of the excess liquidity in the market and decreased levels of inflation; welcomes the fact that the asset portfolio under the ECB’s purchasing programmes has been on a downward trend since 2023; refers to the historical and economic evidence that continuous financing of deficit government spending through the creation of new money, whether directly or indirectly, reduces the real wealth of citizens overall, as in the medium and long term the definitive negative effect on real income due to the associated currency devaluation outweighs the mer…

    Excerpt — full text in the official PDF.
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39. Amendment 39ESNMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 23
    Current text

    23. Stresses that the ECB’s purchase programmes are unconventional policies applicable only during crisis periods that, if not carefully implemented, risk contravening the prohibition on monetary financing under Article 123(1) TFEU; invites the ECB to continue monitoring the gradual reduction of its balance sheet, to limit prolonged potential destabilising effects in the euro area, while monitoring the growth and competitiveness of the EU’s economy; invites the ECB to share insights on the impact of the purchasing programmes on the functioning of financial markets, including the impact on pension funds and pension insurance cooperation;

    Amendment

    23. Regrets the establishment of the transmission protection instrument (TPI) in July 2022; calls on the ECB to respect not just the legal prohibition on monetary financing but also its economic meaning; stresses in this regard that selectively purchasing national government debt amounts to monetarily financing an EU Member State;

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40. Amendment 40ESNMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 26
    Current text

    26. Welcomes the ECB’s progress on the digital euro project and its ongoing dialogue with Parliament; underscores that the digital euro should deliver clear added value to European citizens, including enhanced strategic autonomy in payments, a higher level of competition in the retail payment market, potential to foster innovation in payments and finance, improved financial inclusion and a reliable offline backup payment system; calls on the ECB to clearly communicate these benefits in order to foster public trust and awareness; notes that the EU co-legislators will need to strike the right balance, among others, on holding limits, privacy concerns, competition with private payment solutions…

    Amendment

    26. Rejects the ECB’s digital euro project; underscores that central banks have failed to provide a proper and convincing justification for central bank digital currency, and that it will, however, open the door for excessive surveillance of and privacy interference with citizens;

    Excerpt — full text in the official PDF.
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41. Amendment 41PPEMotion for a resolution · Paragraph 26 a (new)
    Amendment

    26a. Demands that any decision to issue the digital euro should not be taken exclusively by the Governing Council of the ECB; considers, instead, that the decision on whether or not to introduce a digital euro is ultimately a political decision that has to be taken by the EU’s legislators, given the profound potential impact of this decision on a wide range of EU domains, including privacy, consumer protection, financial stability, financial policy and other areas that go beyond the strict remit of monetary policy;

    official amendment document ↗