OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
at the request of the Bank of Greece under Ar ticle 105 (4), second indent, of the Treaty
establishing the European Community (“the Treaty”) and Article 4 (a), second indent, of the
Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (“the
ESCB/ECB Statute”) on draft amendments  to the Statute of the Bank of Greece 
[CON/00/07 ]
1. On 24 March 2000 the European Central Bank (E CB) received a request from the Bank of Greece
for an ECB Opinion on a consultation regarding dr aft amendments to the Statute of the Bank of
Greece (“the Draft Statute”).
2. The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Article 2, paragraph 1, third indent, of
Council Decision (98/415/EC) of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the ECB by national
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions, as the legislative proposal contains provisions
concerning central banks, in the present case the Bank of Greece. In accordance with Article 17.5,
first sentence, of the Rules of Procedure of the ECB, this ECB Opinion has been adopted by the
Governing Council of the ECB.
3. The Draft Statute aims at amending the present Statute of the Bank of Greece in order to ensure
the full legal integration of the Bank of Greece into the Eurosystem. Furthermore, the Draft
Statute addresses a number of other issues of importance to the Bank of Greece, related to its
future integration into the Eurosystem. The Bank of Greece expects that the proposedamendments to its Statute will be adopted at its General Meeting of Shareholders on 25 April
2000. It is also expected that the Statute will be  ratified immediately afterwards through law by
Parliament and published well in advance of 31 December 2000 in the Government Gazette inorder to take effect on 1 January 2001.  In view of these procedures and in view of the report
which the ECB is required to deliver under Article 122 (2) of the Treaty, the Bank of Greece hasadapted its Draft Statute in the light of remark s made during the present consultation procedure. 
- 2 -This was confirmed in a letter from the Bank of Greece dated 12 April 2000, to which this
Opinion will refer where appropriate.
4. The Statute of the Bank of Greece was amended to  meet the requirements of the Treaty and the
ESCB/ECB Statute for St age Three of EMU, which were introduced with Law 2548 dated 12
December 1997, published in the Government Gazette on 19 December 1997.  Law 2548/1997was then, subsequently, incorporated in the St atute of the Bank of Greece through a decision of
the Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders of  the Bank of Greece held on 22 December 1997.  In
accordance with Article 7 of the Bank’s Statute,  this decision was later ratified by Parliament
through Law 2609/1998, which was published in th e Government Gazette on 11 May 1998.  The
European Monetary Institute (EMI) concluded in its March 1998 Convergence Report that, withthe adoption and entry into force of Law 2548/1997, there were no remaining incompatibilities
with Treaty and Statute requireme nts on central bank independence in the Statute of the Bank of
Greece.  The law addressed both the period during which the Bank of Greece is not an integralpart of the Eurosystem as well as the situati on in which Greece will have adopted the euro.  The
EMI also concluded, however, that there were still two imperfections in the Statute of the Bank of
Greece (as meanwhile contained in Law 2609/1998; see above), which required adaptation before
Greece adopts the euro.  Some of the provisi ons of the law will become obsolete upon the
adoption by Greece of the euro.  This applies to the following provisions:
/g183 Article 2.4 on the Bank’s participation in international monetary and economic organisations
does not refer to the ECB’s power of approval;
/g183 Article 7.4 on the imposition of minimum reserves and penalties in case of non-compliance
does not recognise the ECB’s powers in this field.
Following the findings of the 1998 EMI Convergen ce Report, the Draft Statute of the Bank of
Greece is aimed at removing the two above imperfecti ons as well as at a further fine-tuning of the
Bank of Greece’s legal integration in the Eurosystem.
5. The imperfection in Article 2.4 is remedied in Artic le 2.6, last indent, of th e Draft Statute through
an explicit recognition of the fact that, in acco rdance with Article 6.2 of the ESCB/ECB Statute,
participation in international m onetary institutions is subject to approval of the ECB.  The
imperfection in Article 7.4 is remedied in Artic le 55, No. 21 (2), of the Draft Statute which
explicitly recognises that, after the adoption of  the euro by Greece, the competence to impose
minimum reserves and related matters is govern ed exclusively by the Eurosystem’s regulatory
framework.
- 3 -6. The ECB notes that Article 2 (f) of the Draft Statut e of the Bank of Greece states that the Bank of
Greece has the exclusive right to issue legal tender banknotes within Greece and makes referenceto the ECB’s right of approval. The ECB is of th e opinion that the reference to the ECB’s right of
approval should be replaced by a general reference to Article 106 of the Treaty.  In its letter dated12 April 2000, the Bank of Greece confirms that this point will be accommodated through Article2, third paragraph, which will read as follows:
“As from the adoption of the euro as the currency of Greece, the Bank of Greece no longerautonomously performs the tasks under a, b, c and the ESCB-related tasks under e above, but,being an integral part of the European System of Central Banks, contributes to the performance of
its tasks according to Article 2 of the ESCB Statut e and acts in accordance with the guidelines and
instructions of the ECB, as stipulated in Articles 105, paragraph 2 and 3, and 111 of the Treaty
establishing the European Community as well as in Articles 3, 12, 14 paragraph 3, 30 and 31 ofthe ESCB Statute.  As from the same date, the Bank of Greece may issue banknotes which havethe status of legal tender in accordance with the provisions of Article 106 of the Treatyestablishing the European Community and Artic le 16 of the ESCB Statute.  In addition, it
performs the tasks set forth in the present St atute and the other applicable provisions”.
The ECB welcomes this clarification.
7. The ECB notes that provisions th at no longer apply as from th e adoption of the euro by Greece
such as Articles 40-43 and 60 of the present Statute of the Bank of Greece, will be deleted.Accordingly, related provisions in Article 27 (e) a nd (g) need to be deleted as well. In its letter
dated 12 April 2000, the Bank of Greece confirms that such deletion will take place.  For reasonsof legal certainty, the ECB welcomes the aboliti on of any provisions that will become obsolete
after the adoption of the euro.
8. The ECB notes that with a view to ensuring the integration of the Bank of Greece in the
Eurosystem, Articles 2 and 44 of the Draft Statut e aim to make the Bank of Greece an integral
part of the Eurosystem by recognising that cer tain tasks are performed without prejudice to the
provisions of the ESCB/ECB Statute.  The ECB welcom es this basic assumption.
9. The power of the Bank of Greece to impose administrative sanctions in the performance of its
supervisory tasks is dealt with in a very comprehe nsive way. In addition, Article 55A of the Statute
- 4 -of the Bank of Greece deals with the power of the Bank to impose sanctions by virtue of its
supervisory role. The ECB has no specific remarks on this Article.
10. The ECB notes that Article 55, s econd indent, of the Dr aft Statute relating to the Bank’s tasks
contains language that unambiguously reflects the integration of the Bank of Greece into theEurosystem. The ECB welcomes such a general wo rding to clarify that the application of the
Eurosystem’s legal framework is not prejudice d. Furthermore, the ECB welcomes Article 55.10
of the Draft Statute because it contains an exp licit provision to clarify that, upon the adoption of
the euro, the competence of the Monetary Polic y Council of the Bank of Greece will change and
that it may subsequently execute the terms and c onditions of monetary policy as laid down in the
monetary policy legal framework of the Eurosystem.
11. The ECB understands that certain provisions contai ned in the Draft Statute are inherent to the
legal personality of the Bank of Greece as a stock corporation. Accordingly, Article 55.19addresses the power of the Bank of Greece to i ssue corporate bonds in its capacity as a stock
corporation. The ECB does not have  any specific remarks on this provision. Incidentally, the ECB
notes in this context that any non-ESCB related tasks which may be attributed to the Bank of
Greece are subject to Article 14.4 of the ESCB/ECB Statute.
12. Furthermore, Article 55C of the Draft Statute concerning the im position of sanctions in the area
of statistics will become superfluous after the a doption of the euro, since Council Regulations and
related legal acts of the ECB in the area of statis tics apply directly in participating Member States
without the need for any refere nce to them in national legislation. Nevertheless, the ECB
welcomes the fact that Article 55C of the Dr aft Statute explicitly recognises the exclusive
competence of the ECB in the field of those statistics that are related to the ESCB tasks.
13. Article 57A of the Draft Statute codifies provisions stipulating prerogatives in the creation and
perfection of collateral taken by the Bank of Greece. This Article provides for a legal pledge onbook-entry securities held in the participant’s s ecurities account which is automatically created in
favour of the Bank without any separate contract  with a counterparty, thus deviating from the
provisions for the creation of a pledge set out  in the Greek Civil Code. Under the envisaged
pledge structure of Article 57A of the Draft Stat ute, the Bank of Greece automatically has a right
of pledge up to the amount of the claim with th e applicable margin of the Bank of Greece vis-à-
vis a counterparty. This provision addresses any con cerns that might have arisen as a result of the
“specification principle” that applies to the cr eation of pledge under Greek law and requires that
collateral is precisely itemised by parties. This Article applies also in cases where the Bank of
- 5 -Greece acts on behalf of other national central bank s (NCBs) or of the ECB. The practical effect
of such a provision will be apparent primar ily within the framework of the Multilateral
Agreement between the ECB and NCBs on the Correspondent Central Banking Model (CCBM).
14. Moreover, Article 57A of the Draf t Statute contains provisions on the effects of bankruptcy of a
participant in a payment system, which may not be  antedated prior to the publication of a court’s
bankruptcy order. The objective of this Article is to secure claims of the Bank of Greece as wellas of the NCBs and/or the ECB against any sy stem participants. This provision ensures the
validity of the realisation of the collateral by the Bank of Greece acting on its own behalf or onbehalf of NCBs or the ECB. Such  a provision is in line with th e provisions of Directive 98/26/EC
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 1998 on settlement finality in paymentand securities settlement systems, which has already been implemented in a separateLaw 2789/2000 published in the Government Gazette on 11 February 2000.
15. Article 55.5 of the Draft Statute provides explicitly for the Bank of Greece to oversee and manage
any payment and settlement systems. This provision is welcomed since the Bank of Greecealready manages a settlement system and it gives the Bank authority to oversee a very importantpart of the financial system.
16. In the Draft Statute the expression “the euro as  the national currency of Greece” is used, which
may be perceived as ambiguous, since this doe s not clearly reflect the wording of Council
Decision (EC) No. 974/98 of 3 May 1998 on the intr oduction of the euro, which defines the euro
as “the currency of the participating Member States”. Although the E CB appreciates that the
above expression is mainly used to indicate the replacement of the Greek drachma by the euro, the
ECB recommends deletion of the word “national”.  In its letter dated 12 April 2000, the Bank ofGreece confirms that such deletion will take place.
17. As regards the explanatory note to the Draft Stat ute, the ECB notes the following. In Article 2,
second paragraph, “Treaty of the European Union” should be replaced by “Treaty establishing the
European Community”. In its letter dated 12 April 2000, the Bank of Greece confirms that thisreplacement will take place.  In Article 55.17 of the explanatory note, it is stated that the ability of
the Bank of Greece to carry out transactions with  foreign central banks and financial institutions,
as well as with international organisations “is without prejudice to the powers of the institutions
of the European Union in this field”. The ECB recommends clarification, as the ECB is, strictly
speaking, not an institution of the European Union. This could be accomplished through the
- 6 -addition of the words “and bodies” after the word “institutions”.  In its letter dated 12 April 2000,
the Bank of Greece confirms that such an addition will be made.
18. The ECB notes that Law 2548/1997 became obsol ete after the adoption of Law 2609/1998 with
regard to provisions which are incompatible w ith the amended Statute as presently contained in
Law 2609/1998.  While, in accordance with the princi ple “lex posteriori derogat priori” and under
Article 28 of the Greek Constitution, Law 2609/1998 (as amended in the future) would prevailover Law 2548/1997, the ECB notes that Article 109 of the Treaty nevertheless requires, for
reasons of legal clarity and certainty, the remo val of obsolete provisions.  The ECB has been
informed by the Bank of Greece that the Greek le gislative authorities intend to do so in the law
ratifying the present amendments to the Statut e of the Bank of Greece, on which the ECB will
also have to be consulted under Article 105 (4), s econd indent, of the Treaty as repeated in Article
4(a), second indent, of the ESCB/E CB Statute.  In this connection, the ECB notes that, in its view,
the legislative procedures to repeal the re levant provisions of  Law 2548/1997 need to be
accomplished as a matter of urgency.
19. As regards the present Statute of the Bank of Greece, the ECB acknowledges that the following
observations under paragraphs 20 to 24 have not been raised in the EMI’s 1998 ConvergenceReport. However, the ECB is at the same time of the opinion that these points merit further
consideration for reasons of legal certainty and clarity.
20. The ECB notes that originally no amendments to Ar ticle 2 (a) and (b) of the present Statute of the
Bank of Greece were envisaged. These provisions could, after the adoption of the euro by Greece,
give the impression that, on the one hand, the drachma would still be a currency in its own rightand, on the other, that the Bank of Greece would be responsible for exchange rate policy. TheECB takes the view that the technique proposed in order to avoid giving this impression, i.e.
amending the third paragraph of Article 2 by inserting references to the tasks of the ESCB and tothe Bank of Greece forming an integral part of the ESCB as from the moment of adoption of the
euro, might not be sufficiently clear. The EC B recommends therefore that the provisions
concerned be adapted.  In its letter dated 12 April 2000, the Bank of Greece confirms that thispoint will be accommodated through Article 2, third paragraph, which has already been citedabove in paragraph 6 of this Opinion and to which may be referred here for reasons of brevity.The ECB welcomes this clarification.
21. The ECB notes that the second paragraph of Artic le 5B comprises the obligation of the Governor
of the Bank of Greece to appear, when so requested, before the competent parliamentary
- 7 -committee in order to report on matters relating to the Bank’s field of competence. The ECB
notes that such an obligation can prejudice ne ither the fact that the accountability for ESCB-
related tasks has been transferred to the Comm unity level nor the ESCB’s confidentiality regime
to which a governor of an NCB is subject. This implies that the provision of information by the
Bank’s Governor to a parliamentary committee is subject to constraints as far as the execution of
ESCB-related tasks is concerned.
22. The ECB notes that Article 27 in conjunction with  Articles 35A and 55 of the Draft Statute could
be interpreted in such a way that the Genera l Council of the Bank of Greece will, after the
adoption of the euro, retain decision-making power  in at least some ESCB-related areas (see, for
instance, Article 27(b) which refers to the broa d range of operations listed in Article 55, unless
otherwise stated in such Article or elsewhere). Whilst the ECB appreciates that, in the context of
the division of responsibilities between the Monetary Policy Council (Article 35A) and theBank’s Governor (Article 31, second paragr aph), on the one hand, and the General Council
(Article 27), on the other, it is not the intention to  attribute any ESCB-related tasks to the General
Council, this should, in the ECB’s view, be made cl earer. This is also important in view of the
fact that the General Council together with the Councillors and Government Commissioner do notfulfil requirements of central bank independe nce derived from the Treaty and the ESCB/ECB
Statute for the execution of ESCB-r elated tasks. A method to achieve such clarity would be to list
in Article 27(b) which paragraphs of Article 55 do not fall within the competencies of the General
Council because they represent ES CB-related tasks.  In its letter dated 12 April 2000, the Bank of
Greece confirms that this point will be accommodated through Article 27(b) which will read asfollows: “general conditions and extent of th e business conducted outside the scope of ESCB-
related tasks”.  The ECB welcomes this clarification.
23. Article 27 (l) of the present Statute of the Ba nk of Greece vests the General Council with the
power to decide “in questions concerning the design, text, ma terial, denomination and supply of
banknotes, their withdrawal and cancellation.” The ECB notes that this ca n, of course, only apply
to banknotes denominated in Greek drachma and not to euro banknotes, which implies that this
provision will have to be repealed as being obsolete after the introduction of euro banknotes,
except for the withdrawal and cancellation of banknotes denominated in Greek drachma. This
applies equally to Articles 66, 67 and 68 of the present Statute of the Bank of Greece.  In its letterdated 12 April 2000, the Bank of Greece confirms that this point will be accommodated throughan explicit limitation of the scope of Articles 27 (1), 66, 67 and 68 to “banknotes denominated indrachmae”.  The ECB welcomes this clarification.
- 8 -24.  In summary, the ECB welcomes the Draft Statut e of the Bank of Greece.  The ECB notes that,
assuming that the draft amendments to the Stat ute of the Bank of Greece will be adopted by its
General Assembly of Shareholders on 25 April 2000, that they will be ratified by Parliament andthat they will enter into for ce on time, as they were presented to the ECB in the present
consultation procedure, and assuming that Law 2548/1997 will be adapted accordingly, there willbe no remaining imperfections in the Statute of the Bank of Greece relating to the requirements of
the Treaty and the ESCB/ECB Statute for the full le gal integration of the Bank of Greece in the
Eurosystem.
25. The ECB confirms that it has no objection to this ECB Opinion being made public by the
competent national authorities at their discretion.
Done at Frankfurt am Main on 17 April 2000.
The President of the ECB
[signed]
Willem F. Duisenberg