Key for subscriptions to the ECB’s capital – enlargement of the EU and the Eurosystem

Pursuant to Article 29 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, the shares of the national central banks (NCBs) in the ECB’s capital key are weighted according to the shares of the respective Member States in the total population and the gross domestic product of the EU, in equal measure, as notified to the ECB by the European Commission. These weights are adjusted every five years and whenever new Member States join the EU, so that they were last changed on 1 May 2004 when ten new Member States joined the EU.

On 1 January 2007 the ECB’s capital key was changed on account of the Bulgarian National Bank and Banca Naţională a României joining the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). The new shares of the NCBs in the capital key are set out below.

In accordance with Article 49.3 of the Statute, the ECB’s subscribed capital is automatically increased when a new Member State joins the EU and its NCB joins the ESCB. The increase is determined by multiplying the prevailing amount of subscribed capital (i.e. EUR 5,565,000,000) by the ratio, within the extended capital key, between the weights of the acceding NCB(s) and those of the NCBs that are already members of the ESCB. Therefore, on 1 January 2007 the subscribed capital of the ECB was increased to EUR 5,760,652,402.58.

Furthermore, on 1 January 2007 Slovenia adopted the euro and Banka Slovenije joined the Eurosystem. In accordance with Article 49 of the Statute, Banka Slovenije has paid up the remainder of its contribution to the capital of the ECB as at 1 January 2007. Eurosystem NCBs are required to pay up their subscribed capital in full. The 14 non-euro area NCBs (the previous group of 12 non-euro area NCBs plus the Bulgarian National Bank and Banca Naţională a României) are required to pay up a minimal percentage of their subscribed capital (7% as at 1 January 2007) as a contribution to the operational costs of the ECB.

The relevant ECB Decisions are available on the ECB’s website and will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union in due course.