Hayes to call for European Parliament Motion for ECB to appear before Oireachtas Banking Inquiry

Fine Gael Dublin MEP, and member of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, Brian Hayes, said today (Friday) that he will be calling for a European Parliament Motion for Resolution to request that the ECB comes before the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry to explain ECB decisions during the banking crisis. Mr Hayes made the call while speaking on RTÉ’s Sean O’Rourke show this morning.

“The ECB is accountable to the European Parliament and holds quarterly monetary dialogues with this institution, but the ECB should also be accountable to the elected representatives of national parliaments. There is precedent for this – Mario Draghi as President of the ECB has already appeared before the Spanish Parliament in February 2013 and the French National Assembly in June 2013 to defend ECB actions in a number of areas.

“I will have an opportunity to bring this issue up with President Draghi when he comes before the European Parliament on November 17th. As we have seen with Mr. Trichet’s letter to the late finance minister Brian Lenihan, the ECB had a crucially important role in the government’s decision to apply for a bailout.

“In the interest of transparency and accountability, it is of crucial importance that the ECB cooperates with the Banking Inquiry. I will be using all available parliamentary tools to bring the ECB before the Inquiry as the decisions taken during the banking crisis deserve the full scrutiny of our national parliament.

“I look forward to cooperating with the ECB on this and I am confident that we can achieve an open and honest Inquiry which will explain many of the tough decisions that needed to be made throughout the crisis.”