EN ECB-PUBLIC 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 9 November 2012  
on the  Banco de Portugal ’s staff remuneration and the budget  
(CON/20 12/86) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 23 October 201 2, the  European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the President of th e 
Portuguese Parliament  for an opinion on several provisions contained in t he draft law on the 2013 state 
budget  proposed by the Government  (hereinafter the ‘2013 draft  budget  law’) .  
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on A rticles 127(4) a nd 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and on 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 prov isions1, as Chapter III of the  2013  draft budget  law may have implications for the Banco 
de Portugal (BdP) . In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the 
European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this  opinion.  
 
1.  Purpose of the 2013  draft  budget  law 
1.1 The 2013 draft budget law contains  exceptional austerity measures aimed at restoring the budgetary 
balance, mainly by way of  tax increases and public spending cuts . 
1.2 Once approved, the planned meas ures will apply to the public sector  generally and supersede all  
currently applicable lex specialis regimes, collective bargaining agreements and individual 
employment contracts.  
1.3 One provision  of the  2013 draft  budget  law refers specifically  to the BdP. Article 28(8) expressly 
provides that  the BdP shall ‘take into account the efforts to generally contain costs in the public 
sector, as reflected in the [draft] law ’ and authorises it to decide, ‘ as an alternative to measures with 
equivalent effect that have already been decided ’, to sus pend payment of the holiday allowance or 
any other 14th month equivalent payment to its w orkers in 2013, in derogation f rom its  obligations 
under  labour law and from the relevant collective bargaining instru ments .  
 
2. General observations  
2.1 The ECB understands and welcomes that the 2013 draft budget law is intended to reduc e public 
expenditure .  
                                                           
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
ECB -PUBLIC 
2 2.2 The ECB already commented on a similar draft law in 2010 in Opinion CON/2010/80. The 
comments made in that Opinion remain valid and are hereby referred to, while the present opinion 
concentrat es on some particularly relevant aspects.  
 
3. Central bank independence  
3.1 To the extent that it  applies  to the BdP , the 2013 draft budget law has implications as regards the 
principle of c entral bank independence, in particular for the financial and institutional  
independence  of the BdP, as well as for the personal independence of the members of the  BdP’s  
decision -making bodies .  
3.2 As regards the principle of financial independence,  and in addition to the remarks made in 
CON/2010/80 , the ECB understands that during the parliamentary procedure  the BdP shall still be 
given the opportunity to express its opinion, with a view to reaching  a solution which gives proper 
consideration to the requirements for the BdP’s financial independence2, including issues relating to 
staff remuneration and staff pen sions . Opinion  CON/2012/6 recently considered one form of 
effective cooperation between a government and an NCB : the draft legislative provisions i n 
question established that the public service pension reduction scheme would only be applicable to 
the Central Bank of Ireland with the consent of its Governor3.  
3.3 As regards the BdP’s institutional independence and the personal independence of the members of 
the BdP’s decision -making bodies , the ECB refers to the comments made in CON/2010/80, in 
particular paragraph s 3.2.7 to 3.2.10.  
 
4. Prohibition of monetary financing  
The provisions in the 2013  draft  budget  law must comply with the monetary financ ing prohibition 
laid down in Article 123 of the Treaty, as further clarified in Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 
of 13 December 1993 specifying the definitions for the application of the prohibitions referred to in 
Articles 1 04 and 104b(1) (1) of the Trea ty4. In addition to the remarks  already  made in 
paragraph  3.3 of Opinion CON/2010/80 in that respect , the ECB would like to comment on the 
newly introduced Article 31  of the 2013 draft budget law . This Article  provides that the  entities 
referred to in Arti cle 26(9)(q) which are responsible for processing the remuneration of workers 
‘shall hand over to the Treasury those amounts of the allowance whose payment is suspended 
pursuant to Article 28’ . To the extent that this provision  applies to BdP, the ECB emph asises that 
any direct financial transfer of this nature from the BdP to the State budget, without  the opportunity 
                                                           
2 As stated in the ECB’s convergence reports and in several of its opinions, any amendment to the legislative provisions on 
the remuneration for members of an NCB’s decision-making bodies and its employees should be decided in close and 
effective cooperation with the NCB, taking due account of its views, to ensure the ongoing ability of the NCB to carry 
out its tasks  independently . Autonomy in staff matters extends to issues relating to staff pensions. See Opinion  
CON/2012/6. All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu.  
3  See Opinion CON/2012/6 paragraphs 2 and 3.  In addition, see Opinion CON/2010/58.  
4  OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p. 1.  Articles 104 and 104b(1) of the Treaty establishing the European Community are now 
Articles  123 and 125(1) of the Treaty (on the Functioning of the European Union).  
ECB -PUBLIC 
3 on the part of the BdP to use the resources in question as it sees fit for the fulfilment of its tasks,  
represents an increase in the funding  of the Portuguese State at the BdP’s expense and  could be 
considered  monetary financing under Article 123 of the Treaty.  
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 9 November 2012. 
 
[signed ] 
 
The President of the ECB  
Mari o DRAGHI