European Parliament

Consists of 626 representatives of the citizens of the Member States. It is a part of the legislative process, although with different prerogatives according to the procedures through which EU law is to be enacted. In the framework of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the Parliament has mainly consultative powers. The Treaty establishes certain procedures for the democratic accountability of the ECB to the Parliament (presentation of the annual report, general debate on the monetary policy, hearings before the competent parliamentary committees).