S&D Euro MPs want to use a portion of the millions of euros made in profits by the European Central Bank (ECB) as a financial resource for the eurozone. They call on all pro-European MEPs to back an amendment to the European Central Bank's annual report calling on the institution in Frankfurt to transform a portion of its profits into a new own resource of the Union. The proposal will be put to a vote tomorrow in the European Parliament's plenary session.

S&D Euro MPs Elisa Ferreira and Jonás Fernández who have launched the initiative said:

"One of the key reforms we need is to endow the eurozone with a fiscal capacity, encompassing own resources. This is particularly true in these times of fiscal austerity and sluggish growth with no counter-cyclical EU instrument. This fiscal capacity is also deemed necessary by the Report of the 5 Presidents on the future of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

 
"A fiscal capacity will require a combination of financing sources. One of these could be the annual profits the ECB generates as a consequence of its monetary operations.
 
"The ECB generates on average a net profit of 1 billion euros per year. The Statutes of the ECB state that some of the profits must be devoted to ECB reserves and the remainder must go back to national central banks. The euro is the currency of the European Union. At least part of its profits should directly revert back to the Union, while maintaining the current percentage devoted for the ECB reserve fund."
 

Note to the editor: According to article 129.3 TFEU the ECB profits could become a new own resource of the Union, by reforming article 33.1.a) of the ECB Statutes by Ordinary Legislative Procedure.