EN ECB -PUBLIC 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 16 March  2012  
on Italy’s  participation in International Monetary Fund programmes  
in response to the financial crisis  
(CON/20 12/20) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 15 Febru ary 2012, the European Central Bank (ECB) r eceived a request from the Italian Ministry of 
Economic Affairs  and Finance  for an opinion on a decree- law on the extension of deadlines set out in 
legislative provisions1, concerning also I taly’s  participation in International Monetary Fund (IMF) 
programm es in response to the financial crisis (hereinafter the ‘ Decree- Law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the third  indent of Article  2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions2, as the Decree- Law relates to the Banca d’Italia. In accordance with the first 
sentence of Article 17.5 of t he Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council 
has adopted this opinion.  
 
1.  Purpose of the Decree -Law 
1.1  Article 2 5 of the Decree -Law3 regulate s the relations between Italy and the IMF with regard to the 
implementation of the  commitments by the Italian State to contribute to strengthening  the tools 
available to the IMF to deal with  the financial crisis.  
1.2  With the aim of strengthening such  stabilisation tools, the Heads of State or  Government  of the 
euro area  initially agreed at the Summit on 9 December 2011, subject to confirmation within 
10 days, to provi de additional res ources for the IMF of up to EUR 200 billion, in the form of 
bilateral loans, to ensure that the IMF has adequate resources to deal with the crisis4. The EU 
Finance Ministers confirmed such commitment on 19 December 2011, and in particular agreed 
that, as part of a broader international effort to improve the adequacy of IMF resources, euro area 
                                                 
1  Decree- Law No 216 of 29 December 2011, Gazzetta Ufficiale della Re pubblica Italiana,  Serie generale No  302, 
29.12.2011, p. 8.  
2  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
3  The Decree-Law was adopted by the Italian Government on 29 December 2011 and entered into force on the same day. 
Under the Italian Constitution, the Decree -Law mus t be converted into a law by the Italian Parliament within 60 days 
from adoption by the Government.  
4  Statement available on the Council’s website at www.consilium.europa.eu.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
2 Member States would  provide EUR 150 billion  of additional resour ces through bilateral loans to 
the IMF’s General Resources Account. They  also agreed to share the burden among euro area 
Member States on the basis of quota shares resulting from the 2010 quota reform. Since according 
to such calculations,  Italy’s quota sh are, after the entry into force of the 14th General Review of 
Quotas, amounts to 3,161%, its share in the EUR 150 billion of additional resources come s to 
15,66%, i.e. EUR 23,48 billion5. 
1.3 The State budget will guarantee  the reimbursement of the capital  and interest and will cover any 
exchange rate risk on the loans provided by the Banca d’Italia under the Decree- Law6. 
 
2. General observations  
The ECB received the consultation request only on 1 6 February  2012 although the Decree -Law entered 
into force on 29 December 2011. As specified in the consultation request, the Decree- Law was presented 
to Parliament for conversion into law within 60 days . It was definitively approved by the Parliament on 
23 February 2012. As underlined in several ECB opinions7, even in cases of extreme urgency national 
authorities are not relieved from their duty to consult the ECB and to allow sufficient time to take the 
ECB’s  views into account as laid down in Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty. Article 3(4) of 
Decision 98/415/EC obliges Member States to suspend the process of adoption of draft legislative 
provisions pending receipt of the ECB’s opinion. Article 4 of Decision  98/415/EC provides that the ECB 
must be consulted ‘at an appropriate stage’ in the legislative process8, ‘enabling the authority initiating 
the draft legislative provision to take into consideration the ECB ’s opinion before taking its decision on 
the substance ’. Member States mu st also ensure ‘that the opinion received from the ECB is brought to the 
knowl edge of the adopting authority if the latter is an authority other than that which has prepared the 
legislative provisions concerned ’. Decree- Laws are legal acts that enter into force on adoption by the 
Government9. Therefore, consultation should take plac e before adoption. Consulting the ECB after the 
submission of the Decree- Law to Parliament for its conversion into l aw is not sufficient to compl y with 
the abovementioned obligation ; rather , this is  tantamount to a non- consult ation of  the ECB10. 
 
                                                 
5  See the EU Finance Ministers statement on IMF resources of 19 December 2011.  
6  See Article 25(3) of the Decree-Law.  
7  See the most recent opinions ECB Opinion CON/2012/4, CON/2012/9 and CON/2012/13. 
8  This implies that the consultation should take place at a point in the legislative process that affords the ECB sufficient 
time to examine the draft legislative provisions and to adopt its opinion in all required language versions, and also 
enables the relevant national authorities to take the ECB’s opinion into account before the provisions are adopted.  
9  Since they enter into for ce immediately on adoption by the Government, they must later be ratified by Parliament. 
Decree- Laws are a special type of legislation as the initiating authority is also the adopting authority in the first phase of 
the legislative procedure.  
10  A failure to properly consult the ECB on draft legislative provisions within the ECB’s fields of competence is an 
infringement of Decision 98/415/EC and could lead to proceedings before the relevant courts, where the validity of a 
legal act on which the ECB should have been, but was not, consulted may be challenged.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
3 3.  Specif ic observations  
3.1 The tasks performed by a national central bank (NCB) must comply with the monetary financing 
prohibition under Article 123 of the Treaty and Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 of 
13 December 1993 specifying definitions for the applicati on of the prohibitions referred to in 
Article s 104 and 104b(1)  of the Treaty11. Pursuant to Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 3603/93, the 
financing by NCBs of obligations falling upon the public sector vis -à-vis the IMF is not regarded as 
a credit facility w ithin the meaning of Article 123 of the Treaty. The fourteenth r ecital of 
Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 sets out the rationale of this  exemption, clarifying that this financing 
results in foreign claims which have all the characteristics of reserve assets.  It is thus essential that 
the terms of the bilateral loan with the IMF all ow for the resulting claims of the B anca d’Italia to 
have all the characteristics of reserve assets. Provided that this is the case, the ECB considers that 
the financing by the Banca d ’Italia of a bilateral loan  under the Decree -Law falls within the scope 
of Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 and should therefore not be regarded as a form of 
monetary financing prohibited under the Treaty12. 
3.2 The ECB notes that, as mentioned above , the EU Finance Minister s Statement of 19 December 
2011 indicates explicitly that the EUR 150 billio n additional resource s by the euro area Member 
States will be provided through bilateral loans to the IMF’s General Resources Account . 
3.3 The ECB recommen ds that when Member States and the NCBs of the European System of C entral 
Banks enter into bilateral loans  with the IMF  on their behalf or in their own name , the terms of 
these loans are identical  or, if this is not feasible for technical reasons, as unifo rm as possible. For 
instance, i n the case of the euro area, it should be ensured that any  euro liquidity injections 
resulting from the disbursements under the bilateral loan do not interfere with the implementation 
of the single monetary policy . The IMF sh ould therefore notify the respective central bank at least 
five business days prior to drawing , which will allow for euro liquidity injections under these loans 
to be taken into account . 
3.4 The ECB note s that it is necessary in this context to comply with  the principle of central bank 
independence enshrined in Article 130 of the Treaty and Article 7 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank , which includes  that an NCB ’s 
financial independence is not to be jeopa rdised . 
3.5 With re spect  to Banca d’Italia’s payment of a bilateral loan to the IMF under the Decree- Law, the 
ECB understands that the provision of a State guarantee is meant to cover the reimbursement of the 
capital and interest and any exchange rate risk  on the loans provided by the Banca d’Italia
13. 
                                                 
11  OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p. 1.  
12  See also ECB Opinions CON/2009/100, CON/2010/40 and CON/2011/10. All ECB opinions are available on the ECB’s 
website at www.ecb.europa.eu.  
13  The ECB notes that the wordi ng of Article  25(6) of the Decree -Law differs from the wording used on other similar 
occasions, such as in Article 2(16) of Decree-Law No 225 of 29 December 2010 (Gazzetta Ufficiale  No 303, 
29.12.2010). In particular, according to paragraph 6 of the Decree -Law, guarantees are to be withdrawn from the funds 
financ ing a guarantee scheme for banks established in Italy  under  Article  8 of Decree- Law No 201 of 6 December 2011  
(Gazzetta Ufficiale  No 284. 6.12.2011 ). For this purpose, the Decree- Law increases the i nitial resources of the fund, 
amounting to EUR 200 million per year for the period 2012-2016, by a further EUR 100 million for the year 2012. The 
ECB -PUBLIC  
4  
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
  
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 16 March  2012.  
 
[signed]  
 
The President of the ECB  
Mario DRAGHI  
                                                                                                                                                             
ECB understands that the different wording of Article 25(6)  as compared to  the wording used on other similar occasions 
is due to accounting reasons and that, should the available funds  be insufficient to cover the State guarantee for  the 
reimbursement of losses incurred by capital, interest and exchange rate risk on the loans  provided by the Banca d’Italia, 
an add itional allocation of funds will be approved by the  Italian legislator.