Abstract
The Maastricht Treaty was signed the 7th of February 1992 by the members of the so-called "European Community", which became by then the "European Union". It ended a long road to achieve a monetary union at the European level, and a single currency, the euro. Inspired by federal states such as the United States or Germany, the Treaty established a structure, the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and especially the European Central Bank (ECB) at its head, which are formally in charge of the conduct of the monetary policy of the Eurozone since January 1999. The ECB is a young institution compared with central banks such as the Federal Reserve (Fed) in the United States. While the latter on the one hand is often characterized by its "flexibility and its capacity to adjust" (Sardoni and Wray, 2006:451), the ECB on the other hand has a reputation of extreme caution and of obsession with low inflation.
What more precisely characterize the monetary policy of the European Union, and how is it decided and executed? In order to answer these questions about monetary policy setting, we will first draw the main features of the structure of monetary policy-making in the ESCB. Then, we will move on to the policy objectives and strategies of the ESCB and of its main institution, the ECB. Finally, we will tackle the issue of evaluating the monetary policy of the European monetary union after more than a decade of existence.
