Governing Council of the European Central Bank Governing Council of the European Central Bank The Governing Council of the European Central Bank is the main decision-making body of the European Central Bank (ECB) and has "sole responsibility" for formulating monetary policy in the Eurozone. It comprises the members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank and the governors of the national central banks (NCBs) of the eurozone countries. The Governing Council is responsible for formulating monetary policy for the Eurozone. Specifically: In general, the Governing Council (GC) meets twice a month at the Eurotower in Frankfurt, Germany. The first meeting is the most important and
European Central Bank Delors. It was established on 1 June 1998. The first President of the Bank was Wim Duisenberg, the former president of the Dutch central bank and the European Monetary Institute. While Duisenberg had been the head of the EMI (taking over from Alexandre Lamfalussy of Belgium) just before the ECB came into existence, the French government wanted Jean-Claude Trichet, former head of the French central bank, to be the ECB's first president. The French argued that since the ECB was to be located in Germany, its president should be French. This was opposed by the German, Dutch and Belgian governments