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All publications are available in PDF format on the ECB’s website.
Various publications, like the Monthly Bulletin and the Annual Report, are also available in e-Pub format which optimises the content of online publications for handheld devices such as e-readers and tablet PCs.
All publications are listed by activity and by date on the ECB’s website.
The official publications of the ECB primarily serve to fulfil reporting obligations, as laid down in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank.
The ECB's publications, including brochures and other information material (such as that on the security features of euro banknotes and coins), are an important part of the ECB's communication activities. The other channels of communication comprise press releases, press conferences, and public speeches and interviews given by members of the ECB's decision-making bodies.
With the the ECB meets its legal requirement to publish reports on the activities of the ESCB at least every quarter (as per Article 15.1 of the Statute of the ESCB). The Bulletin is published one week after the monthly meeting in which the Governing Council of the ECB takes its monetary policy decision. It explains this decision and makes it more transparent by providing a detailed analysis of the current economic situation and risks to price stability.
The Editorial summarises the Governing Council's assessment of present data. To a large extent, the Editorial contains the same information as the Introductory Statement given at the press conference where the monetary policy decision is announced.
The part “Economic and Monetary Developments” includes information on:Each Monthly Bulletin also includes articles (except for the March, June, September and December issues), euro area statistics and annexes. See articles and boxes by topic.
This pocket-sized book is published every month on the same day as the Monthly Bulletin. It offers data with the same cut-off date (this is generally the day preceding the first monthly meeting of the Governing Council), but the data are structured in a slightly different way: the Statistics Pocket Books contains selected macroeconomic indicators for the individual Member States of the European Union, as well as comparisons between the euro area, the United States and Japan.
The Annual Report describes the activities of the ESCB and reports on the monetary policy of both the previous and the current year.
This publication is presented to the European Parliament and is also submitted to the Council of the European Union (i.e. the “Ecofin Council”), the European Commission and the European Council (this includes the Heads of State or Government of EU Member States).
The Annual Report usually has the following structure:
Convergence reports inform on the progress made by EU Member States outside the euro area towards achieving the Treaty’s convergence criteria.
Under Article 140(1) of the Treaty, the ECB is obliged to report to the Council of the European Union at least once every two years – or at the request of a Member State with a derogation – on how Member States with a derogation are fulfilling their obligations with regard to the attainment of economic and monetary union. The same mandate has been given to the European Commission, and the two reports are submitted in parallel.
The ECB publishes the "Working Paper Series", "Occasional Paper Series" and the "Legal Working Paper Series".
Publications under the Working Paper Series disseminate findings within the field of monetary and general economic research and provide a conceptual and empirical basis for policy-making. Occasional Papers deal often, but not exclusively, with economic research topics. While Working Papers are mainly addressed to experts, Occasional Papers seek to present policy-relevant topics to a wide audience, including other policy-makers, academics, the media and the general public. Legal Working Papers involve legal research on issues relevant to the tasks and functions of the ECB and the ESCB.
As regards research in general, the ECB not only organises its own events but also reports on the proceedings of workshops and conferences hosted elsewhere. For further details, please see Conferences & seminars.
Examples of these very specific publications are the Legal framework, which contains all relevant legal texts adopted by the ECB and is primarily published online, the General Documentation (the full title is "The implementation of monetary policy in the euro area: General documentation on Eurosystem monetary policy instruments and procedures") and the Financial Stability Review. The latter provides an overview of the possible sources of risk and vulnerability to financial stability in the euro area.
